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Gold That Frames the Mirror
In Brandon Melendez's debut poetry collection, Gold That Frames the Mirror , nothing sung can truly be lost.
Orbiting a daisy-chain of fascinations that range from heritage & family to grief, music, & mental illness, these poems want to know what “home” means, even when the answers can seem too blood-bright to bear staring at. Yet do not mistake Melendez for a poet of an uncomplicated even when he writes of deep loss, there is the possibility of wonder & joy. Drawing from a wellspring of profound bewilderment present in his images as well as how language assumes―or is assumed by―form, Melendez knows poetry, like home, is something we carry with us in our bodies. Every certainty and every wonderment in Gold That Frames the Mirror is come by honestly and with Melendez's unwavering & tender scrutiny. Here is a book haunted by history but never in service of it. Here is a book that wants to know what comes after elegy, when the gods slink back into their heavens, when we are only left with the names of our dead & the good, dark earth. Melendez offers something like a prayer against overlooking the past & to remember where the gold came from. After all, “Anywhere can become you / once you forget / how you got there."
Orbiting a daisy-chain of fascinations that range from heritage & family to grief, music, & mental illness, these poems want to know what “home” means, even when the answers can seem too blood-bright to bear staring at. Yet do not mistake Melendez for a poet of an uncomplicated even when he writes of deep loss, there is the possibility of wonder & joy. Drawing from a wellspring of profound bewilderment present in his images as well as how language assumes―or is assumed by―form, Melendez knows poetry, like home, is something we carry with us in our bodies. Every certainty and every wonderment in Gold That Frames the Mirror is come by honestly and with Melendez's unwavering & tender scrutiny. Here is a book haunted by history but never in service of it. Here is a book that wants to know what comes after elegy, when the gods slink back into their heavens, when we are only left with the names of our dead & the good, dark earth. Melendez offers something like a prayer against overlooking the past & to remember where the gold came from. After all, “Anywhere can become you / once you forget / how you got there."
- GenresPoetry
112 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2019
4 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 30, 2019
This was fantastic. Melendez has incredible control of imagery and kept it threaded throughout the collection. The last three poems gutted me.
December 30, 2021
I loved this collection. I’ve had this book sitting on my bookshelf for two years, waiting for the perfect time to be read and here it is. The family ties, heritage, grief, and feelings about self. Several poems stuck out the most to me, those specifically navigating the love and loss of grandparents, and one in which the word hate was replaced with forgive. Cathartic.
February 23, 2020
I enjoyed this b00k
April 18, 2019
beautiful. love to gasp at titles alone & continue to be in awe for the rest of the poem
February 7, 2020
meh this book is cool i guess idk
June 30, 2019
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
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" I want to desire like the rest, to crawl through the dark or into bed and be happy with whatever hand finds me, because hands are good enough.
But when it comes time. When I'm supposed to prove this flesh is worth the price
of teeth, I unbutton my shirt and reveal nothing but thin wire and a path through me.
Maybe I'm not broken,
maybe I need someone who understands when I say a machine, I mean be patient with me."
Pg.83
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This collection will eviscerate you. A deep and honest look at family, heredity, self acceptance, mental health, trauma and grief.
Melendez vivid imagery clings to each poem. He digs deep and many readers with resonant with his words. The whole collection moved me but the last section truly spoke to me. The title is beautiful and absolutely brilliant!
•
Thank You to the publisher for #gifting me this collection.
•
" I want to desire like the rest, to crawl through the dark or into bed and be happy with whatever hand finds me, because hands are good enough.
But when it comes time. When I'm supposed to prove this flesh is worth the price
of teeth, I unbutton my shirt and reveal nothing but thin wire and a path through me.
Maybe I'm not broken,
maybe I need someone who understands when I say a machine, I mean be patient with me."
Pg.83
•
This collection will eviscerate you. A deep and honest look at family, heredity, self acceptance, mental health, trauma and grief.
Melendez vivid imagery clings to each poem. He digs deep and many readers with resonant with his words. The whole collection moved me but the last section truly spoke to me. The title is beautiful and absolutely brilliant!
•
Thank You to the publisher for #gifting me this collection.
January 30, 2020
Fine work by a young poet who has experienced deeply and thought through his family history. The poems are (I assume) determinedly autobiographical and often verge on narratives. One nice aspect is that, while Melendez records plenty of illness, political oppression, and other trauma, he also speaks of pride, love, familial loyalty, and hope. We can see that he wants not "to become an entry / in someone's catalog of empty seats." Rather, "I get closer to a future made better by how I live through it." Spanish is scattered throughout the book (including an entire poem) but it is fairly easy Spanish.
July 10, 2019
In his debut collection, GOLD THAT FRAMES THE MIRROR, Melendez thoughtfully weaves together a beautiful and raw kaleidoscope of narratives that explore his family, his heritage, cultural trauma, mental illness, and music. The collection perfectly encapsulates what it means to grow up and move through this complicated world. Melendez bares his heart and soul on every single page creating an emotional vortex that will suck readers in. But it’s the urgency coursing through these poems that will keep them reading on and on until they––unfortunately––reach the end.
December 2, 2024
"can you believe I have a name. I have a name that someone — who had not met me yet—wrote down in ink & wondered what it might sound like swaddled in skin."
This collection of poems absolutely devastated me with it's beauty and poignancy. There were several moments I looked off to my imaginary camera man in disbelief after reading a line that hit me hard, knocked me out. Look up his performance on YouTube!
Some favorites:
Etymology of Absence...
Glass Pulled From the Wreckage...
Lupus
Field Notes on Desire
This collection of poems absolutely devastated me with it's beauty and poignancy. There were several moments I looked off to my imaginary camera man in disbelief after reading a line that hit me hard, knocked me out. Look up his performance on YouTube!
Some favorites:
Etymology of Absence...
Glass Pulled From the Wreckage...
Lupus
Field Notes on Desire
April 4, 2019
What a way to spend a gorgeous sunny Seattle afternoon.
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I'm biased because Brandon is one of my favorite poets, buuuut this collection is gorgeous. There are poems that hit you right when you read them; others stick with you. The language is accessible for non-poetry readers and there's just enough hope to balance out the grief.
His Mexican-American heritage runs deep inside his poems, but also, he's just another guy whose heart has been broken and still wonders if there is more to this life at all.
"I outlived who I was yesterday" is a truly haunting line that I have been thinking about for days. Don't sleep on this book. It's amazing.
///
I'm biased because Brandon is one of my favorite poets, buuuut this collection is gorgeous. There are poems that hit you right when you read them; others stick with you. The language is accessible for non-poetry readers and there's just enough hope to balance out the grief.
His Mexican-American heritage runs deep inside his poems, but also, he's just another guy whose heart has been broken and still wonders if there is more to this life at all.
"I outlived who I was yesterday" is a truly haunting line that I have been thinking about for days. Don't sleep on this book. It's amazing.
August 21, 2019
I reread many of these poems, especially those about family, heritage, and language crossing and surviving borders. To get inside and feel the experience of multiple LatinX generations. Beautiful
February 2, 2022
Intimate and vital!
April 30, 2019
Powerful, devastating poems about heredity, family, and self-loathing/self-acceptance. An awestriking book.
August 8, 2024
“& i understand: when people say the tongue
is the strongest muscle in the body, they mean it is strong enough
to hold an entire history on its back and still sing.”
is the strongest muscle in the body, they mean it is strong enough
to hold an entire history on its back and still sing.”
December 24, 2025
that time i went north and woke up with a new face is stuck in my throat
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews