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The rebel/feminist/poet at the center of this book has lived through hell and heaven in her lifetime. Born to a Nicaraguan family highly placed in the Somoza regime, Vidaluz Meneses, influenced by liberation theology and leftist ideology, became a Sandinista rebel. She had an important post in the victorious Sandinista government, and lost it when the opposition took power, but maintained her intellectual influence. Throughout the years, despite the rigors of her life, she wrote poems. Editor Maria Roof has gathered Meneses' biographical material, and photographs, and she has translated some 300 poems that are presented in both English and Spanish. The book also includes an extensive interview with the poet on her life and works, as well as notes on references and an annotated bibliography.
A few of the poems contain specific revolutionary references, but most offer a more universal view, like this "Noticia" (Notice) on the struggle for liberation:
I will only tell you
Hands with hands
Build hope and against your skepticism
I place my dream,
Certain it will prevail.
In "Palabras para el Ultimo Encuentro" (Words for the Last Encounter) she bids goodbye to her brother with images steeped in the religion she never lost:
I prayed from the depth of my soul
surrendering you to the Being of all dreams...
Meneses is now in her seventies, with much to impart to the world. This is a significant introduction to those in the United States who may be less familiar with her work, although some of her poems have appeared in international anthologies. Her story of struggle and self-awareness in our hemisphere, in our times, make the ideas cogently expressed in her poems and interviews crucial to our understanding of ourselves. This informative and emotive collection of works by a wise woman should be read and studied by those who are prepared to examine political history in the light of personal pilgrimage.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review