Concave Mirrors / Espejos Concavos

I am delighted to see this second book in the Bridges Series come to print. I originally conceived of this series of books to be a bridge between two cultures, a bridge between colleagues, friends and fellow writers - two Cubans and two Canadians in each book. Ever since the inception of the CCLA in 2004 we have tried to live up to our mandate: The mandate of the Canada Cuba Literary Alliance is to advance cultural solidarity between Canada and Cuba through the creative expression of poetry, prose, art and photography. This book will evidence our ongoing success. For me personally this book is fulfilling my dream. It is warming for me to see my friends Manuel Garcia Verdecia, from Cuba, and Paul R. Carr, from Canada, united between these covers. I have known them since before I even conceived of the CCLA. I am also pleased to have the bridge built between me and my now new colleagues, Ernesto Galban Peramo and Hugh Hazelton and further to have this bridge constructed by my brother, Manuel de J. Velazquez Leon, the editor of this series. I graduated from Ontario College of Art and have been an active artist ever since then so it is also my pleasure to welcome fellow artist, Jose Manuel Gamayo Cordero to these pages. The bridge has been conceived, built and crossed. We welcome everyone that treads our same path. The title, Concave Mirrors, presents staggering connotations for a book of poetry. A concave mirror will reflect your image back to you but it will be upside down and backwards. This collection brings you the flipped images of reality - flipped images of climate and geography, the flipped realities of political struggle. Gliding clouds will turn into a woman of milky skin but all the time simply an inverted image of hope. We are led into the absurdities of a baseball game and the flip image of ritual and convention. Are you ready to question why a ball player grabs his crotch and find the inversion that might be a reflection of yourself? On one level concave simply means curving inwards. It is inevitable that this, not so simple book, of poetry will help you look inward and give you something to reflect on. I hope you enjoy this fine collection that is a concave bridge to other realms.