The Theater of Night
Following the success of his National Book Award nomination, Alberto Ríos’ new book is filled with magic, marvel, and emotional truth. Set along the elusive Mexican-American border, his poems trace the lives and loves of an elderly couple, Clemente and Ventura, through their childhood and courtship to marriage, maturity, old age, and death.
From “The Chair She Sits In”:
I’ve heard this thing where, when someone dies,
People close up all the holes around the house-
The keyholes, the chimney, the windows,
Even the mouths of the animals, the dogs and the pigs.
It’s so the soul won’t be confused, or tempted . . .
Bio
Alberto Rios is Regents’ Professor of English at Arizona State University and University Professor of Letters.
Praise for this book
Ríos writes in a serenely clear manner.
The New York Times Book Review
