Rebozos

Por Carmen Tafolla, Catalina Gárate García y Hector Garcia Manzanedo

Celebrating both the rebozo as a cultural icon of Mexico and the series of rebozo-inspired paintings by Mexican-California artist Catalina Gárate, this bilingual collection of poems gives voices of strength, endurance, joy, and sorrow to the women of Gárate’s paintings. The rebozo is considered a physical manifestation of Mexican womanhood throughout every stage of life and can be used as a tool of daily labor: a sling to carry children, a shield from weather or from prying eyes, an heirloom, and even a shroud. Inspired by each painting, these poems, in both Spanish and English, are accompanied by a historical explanation of the role of the rebozo in Mexican history, art, and culture.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Wings Press
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 1 nov 2012
• ISBN: 9781609402310

Carmen Tafolla

 Carmen Tafolla is a poet, speaker, professor emeritus, State Poet Laureate of Texas, and author of more than thirty books, including Fiesta Babies, What Can You Do with a Paleta?, and What Can You Do with a Rebozo? (all available from Random House). Tafolla has received many awards, including the Americas Award, five International Latino Book Awards, and the Charlotte Zolotow Award. She travels to many places across the world, but always comes back to San Antonio, to a home filled with books and surrounded by trees, butterflies, and raccoons. Visit her website at carmentafolla.net.

Vista previa del libro

Rebozos © 2012 by Wings Press for Carmen Tafolla and Catalina Gárate García

All artwork is by Catalina Gárate García and is used by permission of the artist.

Designed by Thelma Muraida

First Edition

Printed Edition ISBN: 978-0-916727-98-7

ePub ISBN: 978-1-60940-231-0

Kindle ISBN: 978-1-60940-232-7

Library PDF ISBN: 978-1-60940-233-4

Wings Press

627 E. Guenther

San Antonio, Texas 78210

Phone/fax: [phone]

On-line catalogue and ordering:

www.wingspress.com

All Wings Press titles are distributed to the trade by Independent Publishers Group

www.ipgbook.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Tafolla, Carmen, 1951-

   Rebozos : poems / by Carmen Tafolla ; paintings by Catalina Gárate García, with an historical afterword by Héctor García Manzanedo. -- 1st ed.

        p. cm.

   Text in both English and Spanish.

   Includes bibliographical references.

   ISBN 978-0-916727-98-7 (alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-60940-231-0 (ePub eBook) -- ISBN 978-1-60940-232-7 (Kindle eBook) -- ISBN 978-1-60940-233-4 (library pdf eBook)

   1. Ekphrasis. I. Gárate de García, Catalina. II. García Manzanedo, Héctor, 1926- III. Title.

   PS3570.A255R43 2012

   811’.6--dc23

2012025730

Except for fair use in reviews and/or scholarly considerations, no portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the author or the publisher.

To the unsung women in rebozos

and to those who have always carried on the strength

behind any nation

and every revolution

Photograph by Agustín Victor Casasola, ca. 1915

Known both as Soldaderas and Adelitas

The Casasola Collection

Fototeca Nacional in Pachuca, Mexico

Contents

A Poet’s Introduction / Introducción poética

Mujeres del Rebozo Rojo / Las Mujeres del rebozo rojo

Rebozo Rojo

They Call Me Soledad / Me Llamo Soledad

Soledad

La Witch / La Bruja

La Bruja

Waiting / La Espera

La Espera

To Juan / A mi Juan

Soldadera: Homenaje a Casasola

Clearing the Path / Limpiando el Camino

Limpiando el Sendero

Brown Seed / Color Café

La Siembra

Deep Inside the Storm / Muy Dentro de la Tempestad

Tempestad

Curandera, Your Voice / Tu Voz, Curandera

Curandera

Hidden Coves / Introspección

Introspección

These Tacos / Los Taquitos que Traigo

El Almuerzo

The Other Side of Tired / Al Otro Lado del Cansancio

Rebozo Azul

Longing / Añoranza

Añoranza

Going with You / Hasta la Tumba

Dolientes

Offering to the Dead / Ofrenda

Ofrenda

You Can Tell We’re Related / Se Nos Nota que Somos Parientes

Madre Tierra

Artists’ Statements

Afterword: The Rebozo as Cultural Icon by Hector García Manzanedo, Ph.D.

A Poet’s Introduction

Carmen Tafolla, Ph.D.

El rebozo, the simple Mexican shawl, is that everyday item which we wrap around our lives like an emotion, an expression, an instrument. With it we carry our children or bury our dead. We cover our tears or dance out our joy. It is our hands, our face, a reflection of who we are.

In its threads are interwoven the elements of our lives—dreams, frustrations, hope, grief. Hidden in its drapes and folds are the longings and the loves of our hearts. More than a garment, more than an object, a rebozo is our history. And in its texture lies the pattern of our future.

The rebozo has become a symbol of our womanhood, connecting us across classes and across languages, weaving us together like threads in the larger rebozo of this world, relating us, campesina to artist, artist to poet, poet to dancer, dancer to reader, reader to campesina. We are all, in the end, working the same field of corn, carrying the same load of wood, midwifing with the same care our loved ones, through birth or through death. We suffer storms and solitude, loss and longing, the interminable waits, the inconsolable disasters, the unfathomable loves. But we are all, in the end, reclaimed into the warmth of the same earth, this earth whom we choose to see as una enrebozada, a Mexican woman draped most elegantly and most eloquently in her rebozo.

This book cannot be traced solely to the artist, the poet, and the dancer that co-created, weaving into and out of each

Comentarios para Rebozos

[pduste1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Rebozos is a poetry book about different women throughout history and how they used a rebozo, a cloth worn by women in Mexico. I liked this book for its amazing illustrations and its page layout. Every poem is accompanied with a very colorful painting by Catalina Gárate. For example, there is a poem about a Soledad, a child maid from historical Mexico, and the poem is accompanied by a small girl standing alone wearing her Rebozo. The painting adds a visual mood to the poem that works well with the tone of the poem. This book also has an excellent page layout. Every page has a poem in English on the right and the same poem in Spanish on the left. Also, at the bottom of the page there is a paragraph or two about the historical context of the poem. This layout is beneficial to bilingual students and also gives the reader the historical knowledge they need to fully understand the poem. For example, there is a poem about Brujas, or witch, written in English and Spanish. The poem is also accompanied by a paragraph about how past generations in Mexico viewed witches. The main idea of this book is women empowerment.