Reviews
Small
Press
Christ in the World
Wrestling with the Angel
The first edition Wrestling with the Angel a Collection of Poetry was published in 1997 in softcover. In this revised edition, twenty-three new poems are included in a handsome black linen hardcover with gold lettering and beautifully designed dust jacket. Most important, is the collection of verse a total of 67 poems.
In poems painted with vivid imagery, which include the use of a unique linguistic style he calls "Tex-Mex" or "Spanglish," Armando Ibáñez opens our hearts and souls, and awakens our social and spiritual consciousness as he contemplates and reflects upon his own life's experiences- from the horror and raw reality of today's social issues, through his own personal inner struggles with loss, death, pain, searching, and growth, and to his insightful spiritual meditations on his encounters with nature. The content is timely, introspective, and evocative. The "Tex-Mex" linguistic style (with English translations in parenthesis) further magnifies the intensity of his thought-provoking reflections.
In poems painted with vivid imagery that touch the heart and stir the soul, Father Armando helps us find God amidst the harsh realities and social issues of our time, as well as in the beautiful images of nature he brings to life with words that inspire one's imagination to see, feel, and hear the sounds, beauty, and tranquility of the scene he describes within his poems.
This book is a great source of reflection and contemplation to add to your own collection of inspirational books or to give as a gift. It has something for everyone.
click on the listings under 'selected poems' on the right hand side of this page to read some of the works.
Voices...
Father Armando's work is a good example of a new movement in poetry, in Chicano poetry, that tends to the spiritual ...
Chicano poetry has dealt with a type of movement which was more political and more social Father Armando's poetry contains that social context, not so much (explicitly) political, but (implicitly) political.
The social and political elements are contained within his treatment of the spiritual; they are closely allied in his poetry.
But the movement is more spiritual, more personal, and it shows that within the realm of the spiritual and poetry there is much to explore that hasn't been explored in Chicano poetry up to now.
Miguel R. Lopez, Ph.D.
Southern Methodist University-
Ibáñez is definitely a dancer! He's a dancer-poet.
I hope to choreograph dance to his poem entitled, Ruah.
Sr. Lisa Lopez Williams, O.P., liturgical dancer,
Berkeley-
I have always seen the connection between poetry and the spiritual. Armando's poetry makes that connection very explicit ...
His poetry is so accessible, so readily understandable, his images so crisp and clear that the reader or listener is easily drawn in to the emotion or the story.. In Armando's poetry we are brought a little closer to the realm of the spirit.
Nancy Greenfield, campus minister,
Stanford University-
'His vision of life, (where man and nature form a spiritual bond) is a celebration of life that reminds us of the 'Odas elementales' of Pablo Neruda, the great Chilean writer... Of particular interest to me is the way that he deftly uses Spanish, Spanish and English (what he calls Tex-Mex language) and English to express his feelings; an important element in defining the triple sensitivity of a Chicano."
Jesus Rosales, Ph.D.
Texas A&M University-
"Ibáñez's poetry is so beautiful, the images so alive, so vivid. They bring joy to my heart and music to my soul. I feel all the emotions when I read them - the joy of Ruah as she danced and gave birth to the earth, the outrage at injustice in Where Were You God? Through all the poems in Wrestling with the Angel there is that glimpse of the divine which gives the meaning and substance to our lives... "
Donna Peirce
Poet-
"Ibáñez's spiritual poetry celebrates all aspects of life ... from personal observations of nature to questions about life and faith.
... These are poems that tell stories, but they are also poems that should be heard, appealing to the senses of sight and sound.
Readers are left with wonderful visual images and movements of dancing, racing, flying, plunging, and waiting. "
Gloria Duarte-Valverde, Ph.D.
Concho Review
Angelo State University-
"The poems register their immediacy very palpably. The lines are like heart beats or pulse beats - body rhythms that are also pulsations of spirit.
What's more, I think that the Tex-Mex works very effectively. It helps people like me to have the translation, but it is good even so to have the intermixture of English and Spanish. "
Al Gelpi, Ph.D.
Stanford University
