Poetry. "Infused with an eerily adept understanding of Latin American history and culture dating from the 15th century to modern times, their collective duende, REFLECTIONS IN A SMOKING MIRROR will come to stand as a monumental work and as a companion piece to the epic Gabriel García Márquez novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. This collection of poems takes on the true power of myth"—Wayne Atherton. "REFLECTIONS IN A SMOKING MIRROR tells the story of the fall of an ancient, vibrant civilization to Spain's conquistadors under Cortez. Pines's language is intelligent and refreshing, his ideas provocative, his images striking, and his narrative—however tragic—dramatically thrilling. This book is a smoking mirror."—Maurice Kenny
Author City: GLENS FALLS, NY USA
Paul Pines grew up in Brooklyn around the corner from Ebbet's Field and passed the early 60s on the Lower East Side of New York. He shipped out as a Merchant Seaman, spending 65-66 in Vietnam, after which he drove a taxi and tended bar until he opened his jazz club The Tin Palace in 1973, the setting for his novel The Tin Angel (Morrow, 1983). Redemption (Editions du Rocher, 1997), a second novel, is set against the genocide of Guatemalan Mayans. His memoir, My Brother's Madness, (Curbstone Press, 2007) explores the unfolding of intertwined lives and the nature of delusion. Pines has published eight books of poetry: Onion, Hotel Madden Poems, Pines Songs, ADRIFT ON BLINDING LIGHT, TAXIDANCING, LAST CALL AT THE TIN PALACE and REFLECTIONS IN A SMOKING MIRROR. Poems set to music by composer Daniel Asia appear on the Summit label. As a translator he has contributed to Small Hours of the Night: Selected Poems of Roque Dalton (Curbstone Books, 1996); Pyramids of Glass: Short Fiction from Modern Mexico (Corona Publishing, 1995) and Nicanor Parra's Antipoems: New and Selected (New Directions, 1986). He is the editor of Dark Times/Full of Light, the Juan Gelman tribute issue of The Café Review (Summer, 2009). Pines lives in Glens Falls, New York, where he practices as a psychotherapist and hosts the Lake George Jazz Weekend.
Reviews and Other Links
Doug Holder @ Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene
audio: interview by Paul Elisha @ WAMC's A Bard's Eye View
Cameron Scott @ Sugar Mule