Poetry. "Ivan Argüelles's work has always affected me like fire pouring from some unmapped stellar helix. The existences he engenders seem to open up death, to pave the way for an unlocking, for an ascent, so that our minds can live in fearless play. Argüelles lives in Mayan ritual craters, speaking in green lunation cycles, growing suns and dates from the power of chimes. It is a world replete with ruses, temperatures, species, where the force of language takes over without judgement."—Will Alexander

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.