Laughing Out Loud, I Fly

From one of the most prominent Chicano poets writing today, here are poems like sweet music—to make the body shake and move to the rhythm of rhyme, to the pulse of words. Juan Felipe Herrera writes in both Spanish and English about the joy and laughter and sometimes the confusion of growing up in an upside-down, jumbled-up world—between two cultures, two homes. With a crazy maraca beat, Herrera creates poetry as rich and vibrant as mole de olé and pineapple tamales . . . an aroma of papaya . . . a clear soup with strong garlic, so you will grow & not disappear. Herrera's words are hot & peppery, good for you. They show us what it means to laugh out loud until it feels like flying.