My Night With Federico Garcia Lorca, by Jaime Manrique

[Stacey]

A sweet collection of poems adapted from the poet-novelist's memories of New York and Colombia, but they're mainly about his childhood homeland spent in Barranquilla and Bogotá, Colombia . Written in Spanish, translated into English, I loved reading the lush, colorful, sensuous language found in each. Manrique's earliest memories of light, heat, flame, his family, las aves and living near the sea fascinate and transcend. So good, I wished there were more! Mi Noche represented book #3, the Something Borrowed for Week 25: 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme.

Aquí les ofrezco un pequeño bocado de sus brillantes palabras, tomado del poema se llama Mambo,

Aquellas tardes en mi infancia
cuando mis tías eran muchachas y me pertenecían,
y yo bailaba cobijado entre sus polleras,
nuestras vidas eran un mambo feliz
que no se olvida.

Those evenings of my childhood
when my aunts were young and belonged to me,
and I danced hiding in their skirts,
our lives were a happy mambo--
I remember.