A Natural Man
-This poetry anthology offers a photographic glimpse into the lives of California's Chicanos. But although the titles and use of Spanish words create a very particular setting, the characters, stories, and truths of these selections have a universal resonance. In "Werewolf Friends," for example, the adolescent narrator rides his bike through a town that smells of "hot enchilada dinners sifted through sycamores" only to end his quest running toward a moon that "-was just out of reach." The "punk courier" of "We All Belong" who gets on the elevator with "a chrome knob on his tongue,/And a Master lock hanging from his nose" evokes at once both disdain and empathy from readers because of the narrator's realization that we are "all locked up." Soto's poetry is not for the naive or faint of heart; it is replete with grizzly images and crude and lewd anecdotal details. There is, however, much that is beautiful in the language of this book: "-the moon, pale against neon/Of strip malls, rises in the east-." Such lines cannot but startle and delight sensitive readers. Many will also find the gritty realism and colloquial language of the free verse a refreshing diversion from the traditional hearts-and-flowers variety of poetry found in many high school textbooks. Aspiring writers will appreciate Soto's sympathetic portraits of society's pariahs, heaps of grotesque images, cynical humor, and surprising wordplay.Cathy Horowitz, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VACopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.