Inocencia Perversa

"This is the first collection of poems by a Chicano poet who combines eroticism with lyricism and rebelliousness. The 21 poems appear both in Spanish and in English. Bruce-Novoa takes the reader through surrealistic, devouring nights of a thousand and one stories, watched by a "doll who died of fright," past glyphs and codices, led by the poetic influences of Octavio Paz, Elsa Cross, and the "honey hued, black honey" voice of the blind writer Juan García Ponce. He allows the reader to see beyond a feigned cynicism that cloaks a sadness of spirit and beyond women who wait like impatient black spiders to the perverse, insatiable innocence of a smiling girl "who well knows how far she has come and how...." The author speaks in an individual tone: compelling and compassionate; his subject matter is uninhibited yet adroitly treated. Inocencia Perversa/Perverse Innocence marks the emergence of an important poet on the American scene."--Back cover.