Two Murals

"Two sweeping sequences that resonate with personal, political, geological and geographical histories." --D.A. Powell

Through two long poems, Jes?s Castillo's Two Murals explores the personal and political sides of love, selfhood and transformation in a wasteful age. "Variations on Adonis," the first sequence, is filled with music and memorable images, evoking the decline of civilization alongside a desire to live. The second sequence, "A Mural After Darwish," is a love letter to a woman, to nature and to memory. Castillo's visions span the landscapes of different countries and ages, always questioning and curious. Abundance and destruction are placed side by side in his consideration of language, life and death. Two Murals offers the reader urgent views of love and perseverance despite the traps of the past and the uncertainty of our future.

Jes?s Castillo is the author of the poetry collection Remains (McSweeney's, 2016). He has received fellowships from the University of Iowa, the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony and the Tasajillo Writers' Residency. His poems have appeared in the Boston Review, the Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day Series, the Porter House Review and other publications. He lives in Oaxaca, Mexico.