Promises of Gold

Starred review from December 19, 2022
In this moving second collection, Olivarez (Citizen Illegal) reflects on his Mexican identity through poems that explore platonic and romantic love, the joys of friendship and food, and the pain and loss at the heart of capitalist society. A “child of loss,” Olivarez still believes in a salvation made possible by relationships and feeling, a world where “my friends show up unannounced & always welcome.” Details grounded in the everyday world capture great fulfillment, such as “Hershey’s Kisses,” “hot Cheetos,” “ramen noodle days,” and tortillas “warmed on a comal.” “aybe we could redefine kin,” Olivarez proposes, and these poems make a strong case for that redefinition, revealing how close bonds are an antidote to the world’s hardships. In one poem, the speaker details how their lover “kisses me on the cheek in a language/ that needs no translation.” The poet’s sensitive and insightful voice allows these stirring poems to successfully explore the forces acting on love in a complex world, and the unshakable promise of understanding and belonging.

Starred review from February 1, 2023
In a prefatory note to his glistening second poetry collection, Olivarez (Citizen Illegal, 2018) states his intention to dismantle colonial harm by questioning Spanish colonial values: ""What is gold to us? What is holy to us? Where do we find glory?"" Rather than retrace a history of conquistadors, Olivarez elevates small but notable moments through a sensitive, introspective speaker who must learn tough lessons on the streets of Calumet City. When a friend gets jumped for his sneakers: """"this is how we learned to be boys: / we kept everything we loved close by / & out of sight."" But Olivarez also undercuts well-worn tropes of Mexican-American migration by offering glimmers of hope, such as "Poem Where No One Is Deported." The speaker even admits to hypocrisy; he knows that Mexico will always "be an oppressive nation state," yet still sends "Mexican flag emojis / to all the homies" when a popular Jaliscan boxer wins a match. The book includes a Spanish translation and bilingual readers will enjoy flipping back and forth to see how the prism of each poem changes its hue in the light of another language.

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