Lotería: Poems

by Esteban Rodríguez

Overview

A traditional game of chance popular in Mexico and in Mexican American culture, Lotería is poetically rendered in Esteban Rodríguez’s eighth collection, with each poem revolving around one of the fifty-four cards. Using the image presented as a catalyst for exploration and self-reflection, Rodríguez unveils the familial journey between two countries and cultures through both a surreal and narrative lens. Here, a mother unearths a severed hand in the desert. A father discovers his heart among a heap of discarded items. And at one point, the speaker—toggling between his role as witness and son—finds himself in a canoe on a river contemplating the meaning behind an authentic experience. Lyrical, insightful, and honestly engaging, Lotería sheds light on a world that doesn’t so easily reveal itself, adding to Rodríguez’s prolific and important oeuvre.

The Sabine Series in Literature

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781680033229
Publisher:	TRP: The University Press of SHSU
Publication date:	11/14/2023
Series:	The Sabine Series in Literature , #5
Edition description:	1
Pages:	82
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

ESTEBAN RODRÍGUEZ is the author of five poetry collections, most recently The Valley (Sundress Publications 2021), and the essay collection Before the Earth Devours Us (Split/Lip Press 2021). He is the Interviews Editor for the EcoTheo Review, Senior Book Reviews Editor for Tupelo Quarterly, and Associate Poetry Editor for AGNI. He currently lives in central Texas.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 2 El diablito 1
• 21 La mano 2
• 9 El barril 3
• 40 El alacrán 4
• 34 El soldado 5
• 42 La calavera 6
• 6 La sirena 7
• 12 El valiente 8
• 20 El pájaro 9
• 43 La campana 10
• 54 La rana 11
• 39 El nopal 12
• 45 El venado 13
• 52 La maceta 14
• 4 El cartrín 15
• 23 La luna 16
• 46 El Sol 17
• 27 El corazón 18
• 1 El gallo 23
• 22 La bota 24
• 36 El cazo 25
• 14 La muerte 26
• 32 El músico 27
• 25 El borracho 28
• 33 La araña 29
• 38 El Apache 30
• 30 El camarón 31
• 28 La sandía 32
• 31 Las jaras 33
• 24 El cotorro 34
• 18 El violoncello 35
• 7 La escalera 36
• 11 El melón 37
• 15 La pera 38
• 8 La botella 39
• 13 El gorrito 40
• 10 El árbol 45
• 53 El arpa 46
• 17 El bandolón 47
• 44 El cantarito 48
• 41 La rosa 49
• 26 El negrito 50
• 51 La palma 51
• 49 El pino 52
• 47 La corona 53
• 37 El mundo 54
• 29 El tambor 55
• 19 La garza 56
• 50 El pescado 57
• 5 El paraguas 58
• 16 La bandera 59
• 35 La estrella 60
• 3 La dama 61
• 48 La chalupa 62
• Acknowledgments 65
• About the Author 67

What People are Saying About This

John Hennessy

“In Lotería—which draws its form from the Mexican game of chance yet manages to convey a sense of inevitability with every line—Esteban Rodríguez presents intimate and compassionate portraits of family members. Among the most vivid are those of his father, whose crossing of the desert is imagined in kaleidoscopic, multivalent sequences both harrowing and hallucinatory, and his mother, whose high spirits and physical sufferings are vividly reconstructed and turned for moving insights. Deeply companionable, offered in a voice that is simultaneously energetic and guided by confident restraint, these poems are full of love and clarity, an uncommon and welcome combination.” 
—John Hennessy, author of Coney Island Pilgrims

Richard Boada

“Esteban Rodríguez’s Lotería is the story of the crossing.  The hunger, violence, struggle, and death experienced by those who take on this dangerous venture is itself one kind of lottery, some make it and some don’t.  There is fortune and luck being sought and some is imposed, but either way, these poems show us the vulnerability and humility of a family who has crossed the board in search of the lotería, not the game, but the promise.” 
—Richard Boada, author of We Find Each Other in the Darkness

Editorial Reviews

In Lotería—which draws its form from the Mexican game of chance yet manages to convey a sense of inevitability with every line—Esteban Rodríguez presents intimate and compassionate portraits of family members. Among the most vivid are those of his father, whose crossing of the desert is imagined in kaleidoscopic, multivalent sequences both harrowing and hallucinatory, and his mother, whose high spirits and physical sufferings are vividly reconstructed and turned for moving insights. Deeply companionable, offered in a voice that is simultaneously energetic and guided by confident restraint, these poems are full of love and clarity, an uncommon and welcome combination.” 
—John Hennessy, author of Coney Island Pilgrims

“Esteban Rodríguez’s Lotería is the story of the crossing.  The hunger, violence, struggle, and death experienced by those who take on this dangerous venture is itself one kind of lottery, some make it and some don’t.  There is fortune and luck being sought and some is imposed, but either way, these poems show us the vulnerability and humility of a family who has crossed the board in search of the lotería, not the game, but the promise.” 
—Richard Boada, author of We Find Each Other in the Darkness

From the Publisher

"Written in single-stanza vertical oblongs, the poems evoke portraits, which seems fitting, since many of them sketch an individual in thumbnail narratives. . . . But the poems make sense as a deck of cards, too, as sets of symbols shuffled across the pages. The stories span from past to future and float free of a linear narrative."
—Sylee Gore in Poetry Foundation's Harriet Books

Harriet Books - Sylee Gore

"a collection that speaks to the migrant universal and the challenge of overcoming the unknown"
—Full House Literary

Full House - A. R. Arthur

"Between. Not here, not there. Not this, or that. Somewhere but not someplace. Not easy to put your, wrap your, place your—but confidence, and masterful touch with language, is what makes Esteban Rodríguez a credible, incredible even, witness to the between bisecting the Mexican and American experience."
—Foreword Reviews

Foreword Reviews - Matt Sutherland

"[In Lotería] the poet memorializes his father's hard labor, alluding to the Atlas myth and describing his versatile work boots. The familial struggle for survival has buoyancy in Rodríguez's telling."
—Rebecca Foster in Shelf Awareness

Shelf Awareness - Rebecca Foster