This River Here: Poems of San Antonio - Tapa blanda

"If you have visited San Antonio, you know this beautiful city lives on its river walk. Ms. Tafolla weaves lovely descriptions of the water with engrossing stories of her family, generation upon generation. She includes some heirloom photographs and illustrations to give faces to the people she so strikingly describes." --ThirdCoastDaily.com "In Tafolla's poetry, the disenfranchised speak for themselves in their own language." --Yolanda Broyles-Gonz lez, author, Lydia Mendoza's Life in Music "In a reflective array of more than 30 original poems, Tafolla shows her town to the reader, from missions, the streets, the famous River Walk, the parks and the barrios. She also writes about the people, their tie to the river and the land. She explains the city's evolution from a Spanish settlement founded in 1691 to the present . . . . Carmen Tafolla's This River Here is an instant classic reminiscent of Carl Sandburg's famous poems about Chicago. But, this work is about San Antonio and Tafolla's words are 'Puro Tejano.'" --Dr. Manuel Flores, Corpus Christi Caller-Times "This River Here: Poems of San Antonio . . . . explores in homespun yet elegant ways the recent history and cultural development of the area, its unique linguistic and social milieu. With her characteristic mix of humor, insight and compassion, Tafolla once again assumes the many memorable voices of her community to weave the unforgettable portrait of a truly unique city." --David Bowles, the Monitor, McAllen, TX "A world-class writer." --Alex Haley, author, Roots "Tafolla is a pioneer of Chicana literature." --Ana Castillo, author, So Far From God

San Antonio poet laureate Carmen Tafolla captures her hometown-the city of her ancestors for the past three centuries-in poems that celebrate its history as a cosmopolitan multilingual cultural crossroads. Discover San Antonio's corazon in Tafolla's poetry, accompanied by historic and contemporary photographs that convey its enduring sense of place. A century ago, San Antonio gave Oscar Wilde ""a thrill of strange pleasure."" J. Frank Dobie claimed that ""every Texan has two hometowns-his own and San Antonio,"" and Will Rogers declared it to be ""one of the three unique cities of America."" To Larry McMurtry, ""San Antonio has kept an ambiance that all the rest of our cities lack."" Carmen Tafolla calls forth the soul of this place-the holy home of the waters, called Yanaguana by los indios-and celebrates the many cultures that have made of it ""un rebozo bordado de culturas y colores.