de Veras?: Young Voices from the National Hispanic Cultural Center- Book Review

Renz, M. J. and S. Van-Etten-Luaces, eds. (2008). de Veras? Young voices from the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

This raw compilation of teen expression magnifies beauty, tragedy, longing, loss, confusion and clarity- an honest representation of adolescent experience. Yet, this book reflects the complexity of human emotion, regardless of age.

The book is broken into five segments, each based on one summer writing institute session, and some poems respond to the art of the National Hispanic Cultural Institute. Some poems are written in Spanish or English, and some use both. Styles range from rhyming couplets to blank verse to stream of consciousness. At times, the content can veer to the vague and abstract, leaving the reader in orbit around a confused subject. Overall, however, this book is an invaluable addition to any high school and public library, especially as it represents points of view often ignored or undercut: teens and minorities.

I’d like to leave you with a sampling of greatness:
from Lauren Brenner’s “Ode to My Bed”:

But in the end, bed, we’ve been through it all:
Sleepovers and popcorn kernels and dogs that have died;
But we remain constant. The only action you guarantee me
Is the shutting of my eyes, and my ability to dream.