"Homage to Lupe"
from Orlando Ricardo Menes's
Furia

Orlando Ricardo Menes:

Orlando Ricardo Menes was born in Lima, Peru, to Cuban parents but has lived most of his life in the U.S. Since 2000, he has been an Assistant Professor in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame. His poems have appeared in several prominent anthologies, as well as literary magazines like Ploughshares, The Antioch Review, Prairie Schooner, Chelsea, Callaloo, Indiana Review, and New Letters, among others. Besides his own poems, Menes has published numerous translations of such poets as the Argentine Alfonsina Storni and the Cuban José Kozer. His second collection, Rumba atop the Stones, was published in 2001 by Peepal Tree Press (Leeds, England). Menes is also editor of the anthology Renaming Ecstasy: Latino Writings on the Sacred, published in 2004 by Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe at Arizona State University. Furia is his third collection of poetry. (Photo by Bryce Richter)

About Furia:

In a voice that is fluid and mesmerizing, Furia fuses together geography, memory, and a rich, multicultural ancestry. Born to Cuban parents, with one family line running back to China, Orlando Ricardo Menes was raised in Peru and Miami, and he uses this heritage to fuel his imagination. Divided into three parts – "Furia," "Coolie," and "Rain" – these poems create a vivid, colorful world, exotic in its variety.

Drawing from history, ethnography, and anthropology, Furia speaks to Afro-Cuban heritage, magic, syncretic religion, and legacies of displacement and assimilation. With a poetic style that centers on narrative, the lyric, and dramatic monologue, Menes brings to life a distinct mesh of grit and beauty, sound and sight, in a sweep of symphonious measures that celebrates as it delights.

"Furia doesn't read as a miscellany but a well-planned book of poems that's both autobiographical and mythological. What makes these poems so successful? Strangely, the world staple called rice. It surfaces repeatedly, becoming an intriguing symbol for the basics of life itself. An ambitious and rewarding collection."
— Gary Soto

"In the ancient tradition of poetic narrators, Orlando Ricardo Menes transports us to scenes both lush and disturbing. We journey, often startled by the energy in the language, the teller's truths."
— Pat Mora

"Furia confirms what I've suspected for years about Orlando Ricardo Menes – he refuses to keep secrets about ancestral lines, treacheries, scars, educations, ghosts, and his generous heart. How fortunate that in these times of silencing, this book sings louder than personal and political tempests."
— Rane Arroyo

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