Shadows & Supposes

By Gloria Vando

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155885360X
• ISBN13: 9781558853607
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Arte Publico Press
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Love, loss, personal, global, and family history

Gloria Vando's second collection of poetry, Shadows & Supposes explores themes of love, loss, personal, global, and family history. Drawn from such diverse elements as the remnants of Europe in the wake of World War II, to her daughter's encounter with death at the Museum of Natural History, these are verses that reflect a mature and articulate voice pondering ultimate questions, finding purpose in tragedy, and underscoring the ultimate worth of love. Crossings: They bombed the Mostar today,/an ancient bridge in Bosnia,/smoothed by centuries of pedestrians//crossing the river. When I crossed it/years ago, I had to hang on/with both hands--one to the railing,//the other to my husband's extended grip--to keep from/slipping off its marble-slick incline,//so slick it reminds me now/of Saint Peter's bronze statue,/the toes eroded by millions//of caressing hands crossing/that threshold of faith--a foot/I vowed I would not touch, but did--//and this war, all wars, suddenly/ambushed by two abraded images:/one small bridge, one little foot (--for Pat Breed).

Poet with a World View

Finally, a voice of conscience and intelligence! These are wonderful poems, especially the narratives, which are filled with pathos and humor. One in particular is one sentence but four pages long, and ends as it began wth the word "potato"! Another is about a father dangling his son over the edge of the Liberty Memorial to teach him the meaning of "trust." And there are delightful shape poems--a high-heeled shoe, a baseball diamond, and even a "mirror" poem--with two parts facing in opposite directions. Some poems of bigotry and war (very timely). And love. And tributes to friends in poetry and the arts. I loved it.