REVIEWS

Christ in the World
Volume 8, Issue 5

by Karen Woods, OPL

Fr Armando's poetry is a mix of gentle/pretty and rough/shocking -- he sees and portrays the real world, a world in which injustice and hurt exist side by side with love and beauty. It all becomes beautiful in a way through his pen.

I hear you breathing Lord,
Inhaling and exhaling.
Yet, how can I speak of you?
Preach of your breath
With my words which even fail to describe
Stirrings within?
I can't even speak of the life of clicking rain,
Whispering snow.
But I feel you within!
["I Hear You, Lord" pg. 40]

He paints pictures in woeds and his artistry draws in the reader wherever s/he may be in his/her own journey:

Youth,
I'd love to capture you again,
and I'd spend my hours
like a miser spends his pennies.
[In Search of Nakedness" pg. 46]

Fr Armando's poems are social commentaries, awakening the reader to the harsh realities of our world, and at the same time they prod us to search for God everywhere, even in unlikely places. He mixes Spanish and English without missing a beat, enhancing the music that his words make anyway.

Y en la arena (And in the sand)
Se revolcaba (rolled)
A sandcrab
Buscando, (searching)
Buscando
Buscando
["Olas del Mar" pg. 16]

 

He challenges us with lively images, sometimes shouting, sometimes whispering. But...warning: once you start, you can't stop at just one!
These are poems to read, aloud, on a slightly overcast but colorful day and maybe sitting on a rock, bayside.

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