Poetry. "Argüelles's work deliberately reaches into areas of the mind most poets are unaware exists at all. Admittedly, his writing is often difficult, problematical, even at times maddening. It challenges our capacity to read it. This poet is like an explorer in some dark, chaotic, utterly chancy realm. You're never certain what you're going to get. But what he brings back is always, in Pound's phrase, news that stays news. The MADONNA SEPTET is an attempt by one of our finest to tell it all. For once, Arguelles is getting the space he needs to do it."—Jack Foley

Author City: BERKELEY, CA USA

Ivan Argüelles is one of this century's foremost surrealist poets. Born in Minnesota of Mexican and Anglo parentage (his father was a "communista" who knew Leon Trotsky personally), Ivan lived throughout the United States before settling in Berkeley, California. A polyglot and classicist, Argüelles manages to convey in his work a magical combination of surpassing reality and an almost eerie symbolism. His many books include A DAY IN THE SUN, ULTERIOR VISION(S), THE DEATH OF STALIN: SELECTED EARLY POEMS 1978-1989 (The Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award, 2011), The Invention of Spain, LOOKING FOR MARY LOU: ILLEGAL SYNTAX (William Carlos Williams Award, 1989), "THAT" GODDESS, MADONNA SEPTET (2 vols.), INFERNO, and COMEDY, DIVINE, THE. Argüelles is founder and co-editor of Pantograph Press.