The Boy Kingdom / El Reino de Los Varones - (Raised Voices) by Achy Obejas (Paperback)

Review Quotes

"Achy Obejas's prose poems in The Boy Kingdom are mind-boggling, unpredictable, heart-quaking. One of her dazzling acts of magic is to filter her sons' experiences through her own, so they mingle and coexist in the heart-gripping daily dramas of parenting amid divorce, death, immigration, and survival. Generously, she gives us twins of each of these lush, lyrical poems, so that the book is doubled--one rendition in English and one self-translated into Spanish. In this magnificent multilingual feat, both poignant versions are original love notes to her sons."
--Rachel Galvin, author of Uteropia

"This collection is a string of sapphires--a union of poems that are unyielding in their fierce honesty and transparent in their raw tenderness. Light flows through, reflecting a nuanced spectrum of the joy and challenge of navigating relationships with those we hold closely. She carves into the flesh and bone of our most intimate connections. Here motherhood is opened to reveal the sacred and raw challenge of how we must learn to navigate ourselves to guide our children. It interrogates the complexity of what we cherish and inspires us to pay attention to how love can both wound and fortify. It is a jewel."
--Emily Hooper Lansana, artistic director, SOL Collective: Storytelling by Women of Color