Bilingual Blues: Poems, 1981-1994

by Gustavo Perez Firmat

Poetry. Gustavo Perez Firmat examines relationships, sex, and Cuban American life in this collection of accessible poems. Perez Firmat, who writes with wicked humor and candor, handles both Spanish and English with seamless assurance. He is an economical and confident poet.

Genres: Poetry, Spanish Literature

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Gustavo Pérez Firmat was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Miami, Florida.
He is best known for his memoir, Next Year in Cuba, available in Spanish as El año que viene estamos en Cuba, and for Life on the Hyphen, a study of Cuban-American culture, also available in Spanish as Vidas en vilo. His most recent book, A Cuban in Mayberry, is an affectionate and personal look at one of America’s best-loved TV shows, “The Andy Griffith Show.” He has also published several collections of poetry in English and Spanish—Scar Tissue, Cincuenta lecciones de exilio y desexilio, Bilingual Blues, Equivocaciones, Carolina Cuban—and a novel, Anything but Love. His books of literary and cultural criticism include The Havana Habit, Tongue Ties, The Cuban Condition, Literature and Liminality and Idle Fictions. He divides his time between New York City and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Opal]

I wanted to read it because of seeing this quote from it online:
“The fact that I
am writing to you
in English
already falsifies what I
wanted to tell you.
My subject:
how to explain to you that I
don’t belong to English
though I belong nowhere else.”

My mother has said similar things to me, of feeling like she never belonged in either language, either place, as one of the reasons she chose not to raise me as bilingual, and maybe this book will help me to understand.

[hh · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the 3.5/4 star fence. The first section is wonderful, the second engaging, the last is insular and not nearly as interesting. Great word and sound play, although once in a while cleverness undermines a line or a poem. Overall highly enjoyable and smart poetry.