Ricardo J. Quinones

From scholar-poet Ricardo Quinones comes his first collection of poetry since the critically-acclaimed [A Sorting of the Ways: New and Selected Poems](2011). [Finishing Touches], Quinones fourth book of poems, is a purposeful combination of the old and the new. The old, represented by Teeming Americana, has its logic in history and opens itself to dramatization while the new, Station Crossings, tends more towards philosophical gatherings and the quests and the needs of character types. The line of difference is marked by the first of the new poems, where reality of events seems to contradict the mythography of poetry. Presented in prose, "The Coda" is followed by a "defense of poésie," which then plays its part throughout the new poems. Thus, Station Crossings is made up of sections with two poems: the smaller, secondary one intended to counter, augment or disdain the primary, larger venture.

Ricardo Quinones has followed his first volume of poems, [Through the Years](2010), with a second, dedicated in large part to his wife, Roberta. Unlike other such volumes of personal interest, these poems begin with specific qualities that are then raised to the general. The poem 'Odalisque' transfigures women, even in their sexual composure, into the sources of culture and civilization. Several of the poems are humorous, such as the one describing the couple's futile attempts to set aside Tuesday as a day of abstinence. All of the poems in [Roberta]are rich in historical allusions. The second part of the volume contains a philosophical poem, 'Rocks and Their Fellow Travelers,' which begins with the premise that nowhere in the Bible does it say that God created rocks and then proceeds to compare the nature of these anti-gods with Satan, Esau, Sisyphus, Iago, and Goneril (from King Lear). The volume adds to the very popular 'Wallet Poems' from Through the Years and then finishes with 'Profanities,' a poem that the late poet and critic Aino Passonen of Santa Monica declared made Quinones "a major American poet."

Following his break-through first volume of poems, [Through the Years](2010), and its successor, [Roberta and Other Poems](2011), Ricardo Quinones has upped the ante with a generous selection from those earlier volumes and additions from a ready supply of new poems presented here. [A Sorting of the Ways: New and Selected Poems]contains such poems as "The Grafting Tree," a mythical marriage between a giant oak and a chair; "Ten and More," the record of a ten-year-old's deflating experience of the Korean War after the jubilation of 1945 and the end of WWII; "To Pick a Penny," another far-reaching poem about the magic qualities of a penny; and "Spoiler Speech," the fragile hold of civilized consciousness against the uprising of a primitive rage. The volume also announces the demise of the popular "Wallet Poems," mainly by virtue of their own superabundance and their replacement by a new kind of verse, "Bloc Notes." In the poem "A New Beginning," Quinones takes the gamble of expressing his own philosophical and moral desideratum as to the nature of art and society, thus enacting his belief that at sometime a writer-poet must come to grips with those things he thinks essential if a society is to be reborn. :

Three complete novels Tears of the Renegade by Linda Howard The world stopped for Susan Blackstone when she first saw the stranger—and her heart stopped when she learned his name. He was Cord Blackstone, back for one reason: revenge. But in his game for control of her family empire, would Cord lose the final battle—for his heart—to Susan's surprising upper hand? Golden Lasso by Fern Michaels Ruthless ambition came to mind when Jan Warren thought of Derek Bannon. Why did he want her small, struggling ranch? She didn't understand his cruelty—or his kindness. But Jan felt her defenses wearing thin and her heart turning traitor. For there was one thing Derek wanted more than her land. He wanted Jan. Baby Blessed by Debbie Macomber An explosive reunion with her husband, Jordan, brought back memories that Molly Larabee had sworn never to relive. Memories of bitter tragedy and sweetest love. But in the aftermath of their rekindled passion they found a second chance... called baby.

In his latest collection of poems, scholar-poet Ricardo Quinones announces with little regret that last year's [Finishing Touches]did not quite live up to its name. Other poems, some worthy of the best of his earlier volumes, obtruded, seeming to call for the special attention of a new volume: [Fringes].