Gypsy Cante: Deep Song of the Caves

Rating:
Summary: "There's a halo round the moon, My love has died."
Review: This is the real stuff--a jewel of a book. After I read these lyrics, "I taste blood in my mouth." Will Kirkland has not only captured the words and rhythm of "cante," he has touched my heart.

Rating:
Summary: Distilled life experience
Review: This slim volume contains well-chosen and poetic quotations about flamenco as well as the poetry itself with translation. Most of the lyrics are 4 lines, relatively short lines so that the poetry must be clear and precise - nothing extraneous or wasted. An example:
When daylight comes
my griefs begin to grow;
only the shadows of darkest night
comfort my soul.
If haiku is the poetry of observation, observation of what is true (in a Buddhist sense), these poems are the poetry of passion - pleasurable and/or horrible. This is not a book simply for flamenco-philes; rather it is a book for all interested in passionate humanity.