In the Gathering of Silence: Poems - Softcover

This collection of poems by a native son of the Embudo Valley in northern New Mexico affirms that "we in our lives move forward simply / accepting and giving / as the earth gives / and rejecting and taking / as the earth takes / because we know nothing else." Elemental and natural, passionate and sensitive, they express the heart of a norte o at the margins of the city--especially Albuquerque, the city of all-night cafes, railroad tracks, and the pool tables of Jack's on Central. Romero also expresses the rhythms of the heart, sometimes in stately, traditional narrative; sometimes in lyrical and cadenced repetition, like jazz with a missed beat; sometimes in the calo dialect of the street.

These poems by a native son of the Embudo Valley in northern New Mexico express the heart of the poet at the margins of the city - Albuquerque, the place of all-night cafes, railroad tracks, and the pool tables of Jack's on Central. They also express the rhythms of the heart, whether in stately traditional narrative, in lyricism, or in the new language of the city street. Levi Romero has performed and published his poems extensively, winning awards in Blue Mesa Review and from the "Language of Life" series for KNME-TV in Albuquerque. This is his first volume of poetry.