Unpeopled Eden

Unpeopled Eden

• Unpeopled Eden: A Descent into Mictln's World of Ghostly Song
• Gonzlez's Poetry Haunted by Border Crossers and Deportees
• Casa Speaks: I Am Not Your Mother
• Casa: I Do Not Answer Prayers
• Casa Welcomes All, Yet Offers No Comfort
• Casa Listens, But Expects No Response
• Casa's Faces and Scars Belong to Others
• Casa Denies Being a Time Capsule
• Casa Dislikes Sentimental Hoarding
• Casa Says Farewell to Old Furniture
• Casa: I Do Not Fear Death or Cold
• Casa: I Do Not Shrink into Corners
• Casa: I Am Not to Blame
• Casa: I Treat All Equally
• Casa: I Am No Prize or Wish

Unpeopled Eden opens in Mictlán, the region of the dead in Aztec mythology, inviting us down into a world where “the men are never coming home” and “rows of ghosts come forth to sing.” Haunted by border crossers and forgotten deportees, lost brothers and sons, González unearths the beautiful and musical amidst the grotesque. These poems are prayer and memorial “for those whose / patron saints are longing and despair.”