Paraíso: Poems by

by Jacob Shores-Argüello

Winner, 2017 CantoMundo Poetry Prize

Paraíso , the first book in the new CantoMundo Poetry Series, which celebrates the work of Latino/a poets writing in English, is a pilgrimage against sorrow. Erupting from a mother’s death, the poems follow the speaker as he tries to survive his grief. Catholicism, family, good rum . . . these help, but the real medicine happens when the speaker pushes into the cloud forest alone.

In a Costa Rica far away from touristy beaches, we encounter bus trips over the cold mountains of the dead, drug dealers with beautiful dogs, and witches with cell phones. Science fuses with religion, witchcraft is joined with technology, and eventually grief transforms into belief.

Throughout, Paraíso defies categorization, mixing its beautiful sonnets with playful games and magic cures for the reader. In the process, moments of pure life mingle with the aftermath of a death.

Genres: Poetry

60 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2017

About the author

Jacob Shores-Argüello is a Costa Rican American poet and fiction writer. He is the author of In The Absence of Clocks, which was awarded the 2011 Crab Orchard Series Open Competition, judged by Yusef Komunyakaa. Jacob is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Ukraine, the Dzanc Books ILP International Literature Award, The Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship in Provincetown, the Djerassi Resident Artist’s Fellowship, and the Amy Clampitt residency in Lenox, MA. His second book Paraíso was selected for the inaugural CantoMundo Poetry Prize. He will be a 2018/019 Hodder fellow at Princeton university.

His work appears in The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, Guernica, and The Journal.

Reviews

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've known Jacob for many years and have read these poems several times, but this is my first time reading them since my mother died and it seemed a wholly different book. There's this line, "Primo, why is it so hard to talk to anyone/whose mother hasn't died?" And that linebreak just hit me so hard.

I don't know what all to say, really, but this book is more helpful in my grief than any of the grieving books I tried to read, and I love these poems and this author so much. I think it might be the best writing about losing someone I've ever found.

[Esteban Alonso Ramírez · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Costa Rican reader, the impact of reading this book forces me to see my whole country, its nature, and many of its traditions from a new perspective. This is a story of grief and inner exploration, of nature and a struggling spirituality amidst the author's search for his place in the world after losing the person that was his home, split between two identities.
The book's structure serves well to the intention of making us part of the author's journey. From games to childhood memories, from rain forests to encounters with a traditional healer, and the constant efforts to find the words for a loss beyond them, the poems are clear, strong, and resonate in your head long after reading. I will surely revisit it.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

the first section is incredible -- vision and yes, "formally daring" as the series editor put it -- but the rest of the book fails to catch up. I would've loved to see more work that matches the first section

[Denton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacob Shore-Arguello's poetry stuns me over and over again.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

A breath of fresh air. An internal and external travelogue. I felt like I was back in South America. This collection is full of magic and grief.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s hard to lie to a river, harder to lie to a river you love.” // “Everything is not perfect, but everything is a prayer.”

[Vaidehi Bhardwaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Everything is not perfect / but everything is a prayer."

Rounding up from 4.5 stars.