Songs Older Than Any Known Singer
by John Phillip Santos
0-916727-35-1 || 978-0-916727-35-2 Cost: $16.00
Paperback original , 130 pages
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John Phillip Santos on DNA, poetry, and mestizaje:
(From TedXAustin, February 2010)
Long before John Phillip Santos was an award-winning documentary filmmaker, before he was a celebrated memoirist, he was a poet -- the recipient of the Academy of American Poets' Prize at Notre Dame, among other awards, including his status as the first-ever Mexican American Rhodes Scholar. Years came and went, and Santos' poetry slowly evolved sans benefit of publication in book form. In this, his first book of poems, Santos delves into the same mythic space that produced the author's 1999 memoir, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation, which was a finalist for the National Book Award.His second memoir is The Farthest Home is in an Empire of Fire (2010)
Songs Older Than Any Known Singer is rich in regional references, universal in its insights into the human soul, imagistic and narative by turns. These poems inhabit "a world / assembled from these tuileries / of words, a pageant of declensions / drawing us out to the open fields."
Above: John Phillip Santos reads his poem, "Prodigals," to his wife, Frances Treviño Santos, at their wedding.
Reviews
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Long before John Phillip Santos was an award-winning documentary filmmaker, before he was a celebrated memoirist, he was a poet the recipient of the Academy of American Poets' Prize at Notre Dame, among other awards, including his status as the first-ever Mexican American Rhodes Scholar. Years came and went, and Santos' poetry slowly evolved sans benefit of publication in book form. In this, his first book of poems, Santos delves into the same mythic space that produced the author's 1999 memoir, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation, which was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Rich in regional references, universal in its insights into the human soul, imagistic and narative by turns, these poems inhabit "a world / assembled from these tuileries / of words, a pageant of declensions / drawing us out to the open fields."
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Library JournalJune 1, 2007
Noted documentary filmmaker and television producer Santos's first published volume of poetry in many ways complements his lyrical 1999 memoir, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation (a National Book Award finalist), as each of its five sections deals with a segment of his life. The relatively unpolished first section is followed by "Inevitable Fruits," wherein the theme of departure is poignantly encapsulated: "I'm leaving again...who knows how long?" In "Screens," various images of barriers-fences, walls, even a collapsed bridge-reinforce yet another alienation theme. Santos reaches his creative apex in "Albion Exile," whose poems deal with his experiences at Oxford (he was the university's first Mexican American Rhodes scholar) and pulse with nostalgia and longing of absence. The last section, wherein the theme of loss continues, meditates on the author's Mexican heritage. Since many of the poems are circumstantial, knowing more about the personal situations surrounding their creation might increase their understanding. Recommended for contemporary poetry collections in larger public and academic libraries.
Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, OH
About This Author
Read more about John Phillip Santos HERE.
