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Americano
Praise for Emanuel Xavier and Americano
"Xavier got his start shouting his work from New York's uninhibited
poetry-slam stages, where anarchy fueled brilliance as much as excess
muffled achievement. In Americano, he brings a more modulated voice to the
printed page—though the urgency, energy, unsentimental personal honesty,
and unabashed sexual imagery of his performances are still present. The 35
poems in this second collection are more formal and formed than those in
Pier Queen, his self-published 1997 collection of slam poems. That was the
work of a young man in a rush to express—to himself as much as to his
audience—the harsh truths of a boyhood of homelessness, hustling, and
drugs. This is the work of a mature man aware of how words transformed his
life, and equipped to bring wisdom, as well as raw passion, to that work.
Xavier is a minority within a minority, a queer man with a Latin heritage
who grew up an outcast in America. With this collection, an accomplished
combination of the sensual and the analytic, he proclaims that America is
his nation, too."
"Americano is the latest book of poetry, released 2002, from the author of the collection Pier Queer and the novel Christ-like. Emanuel Xavier possesses a strong and original voice. Though only 80 pages, Americano is one of the freshest poetry collections I've read in years. Each poem, a force unto itself, grabs the reader with its pointed intensity and demands both undivided attention and unambiguous respect. The poet, though thoughtful and self-reflective at times, is absolutely unregretting and unapologetic throughout. Multiple thematic threads weave through the various poems—the poet's own past: the streets, as a prostitute, the drug and, often overlapping, club scene, his success with his earlier work. Uncompromising introspection intermixes with current romances. Dual threads of spirituality and religion thread through the work, the warp to the woof of the collection. Xavier's imagery moves seamlessly from the morphological harshness of Catholicism—the crucifixion, the stigmata, the thorns, the wounds of Chris-to 'the Yoruba breezes' of the Afro-Caribbean spirituality of the Orishas. The collection ends with the author looking forward to a hard-fought, almost positivist, 'evolution' in "Undone": 'I am not done writing yet/the future is in our words.' ¡Coño Carajo! Fucking brilliant!"
"...Americano is also filled with hope, and a belief in the cleansing power of sex and lust and love and the redemptive powers of art..."
"Americano a new poetry collection by Emanuel Xavier is raw and hungry, vulgar and perverse, with words that creep real edgy deep down under your skin kind of shit... it gave me shivers i was that fucking good..."
"Poet and novelist Emanuel Xavier's second poetry collection Americano gracefully balances aspects of urban gay life with Catholicism in a way that only a true poet is able to do."
"...Xavier bares his soul with astonishing maturity and fearlessness."
"Although the issues Xavier delves into in Americano remain faithful to his
past, the work rises above Pier Queen's more elemental style and reveals
Xavier's growth not only as a writer, but also as a man."
“In the religious light of these poems the everyday gets revealed as a miracle again and again. Two boys having sex (“your mother in the other room”) are without contradiction entirely hot and holy. Emanuel Xavier is a poet who takes wild comfort in the world and knows god is watching too.”
“Emanuel Xavier sweeps into the streets with the audacity to show us his heart, reflecting fearlessly on a life consumed with the passion to live it. In these vivid poems immersed with humility, presence and love—he shares with us, the tastes, the smells, the beat, all the vaya passionistica that it takes to be Americano—to be a human being in a modern-day America that knows too many boundaries. Xavier is aware that words alone can’t save the world, but they can definitely start the revolution.”
“...raw, fresh... Give yourself over to Emanuel Xavier and you’ll be transported to a place like no place you have ever been… a safe place, full of danger. This is what it means to be Americano…”
“Nestled in the folds of the red, white and blue, he moves the audience with words about how complex and multi-dimensional American-ness is. In many ways, his call to redefine American-ness mirrors the spoken-word poetry phenomenon, a call to redefine poetry.”
“Once in a generation, a new voice emerges that makes us see the world in a dazzling new light. Emanuel Xavier
is that kind of writer… exciting… vibrant… unique…
a visionary bard.”
Read an interview with Emanuel Xavier here.
poetry/gay studies
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