For My Children Who Are Poor: ruminations of a blues and bruised soul


Phildadelphia, PA Dec. 21, 2003—Diego Torres, published by iUniverse, Inc., the leading provider of publishing technology solutions for authors, announced today the release of his debut collection of short stories poems, For My Children Who Are Poor: ruminations of a blues and bruised soul. A small book that packs a lot of power, For My Children Who Are Poor is an impressive addition to the African American cannon and to literature in general.

For My Children Who Are Poor is an ambitious collage reminiscent of Jean Toomer's Cane. The stories and poems in this collection are deeply intelligent, angry, heavy, and mournful. And like the blues, Torres has successfully related the bitter pain of what it means to be human in an inhumane world. The men and women in these short stories contend mightily against the inexorable weight of the suffering of life. Stand witness as a mother and her daughters are evicted from their home with no one in the world to whom they can turn for help. See a young man reject and rebel against the stifling love of his mother. Or watch a man, mired in self-hatred, overcome his inability to love, really, himself or his family. For My Children Who Are Poor, though dark, illumines, or exposes, the complexity of the human experience.

Diego Torres closes his debut work with a provocatively insightful comment on the state of civilization. For My Children Who Are Poor is, in a phrase, beautifully lyrical.

“I believe,” says the author, “that there is much missing from literature today; most obvious is the blatant disregard for language—myopic men run for shelter beneath the banner of capitalism and write for commercial success. What is needed is a return, quite simply, to that spirit in literature that made men want to put pen to paper. Unless we—and by we I mean those of us who are dedicated to this art of writing; unless we can know what it is to be in love with words, we cannot salvage the hope of art.”

"The virtue of art," wrote Ralph Emerson, "lies in detachment, in sequestering one object from the embarrassing variety. Until one thing comes out from the connection of things, there can be enjoyment, contemplation, but no thought."

For My Children Who Are Poor attempts, ever so carefully, to extract from the breadth of life the seemingly insignificant, the absurd, the painful, to provoke the reader to think, to inquire into the deep and profound meaning of what it means to be human, to be bound to this crude flesh.

D. Diego Torres is a poet, essayist, playwright, and intellectual. His poems have appeared in anthologies and online at poetry.com, an internet forum dedicated to poetry. For My Children Who Are Poor is his debut collection. Mr. Torres lives in Pennsylvania where he is diligently at work on a novel.
For My Children Who Are Poor: ruminations of a blues and bruised soul(Copyright December 2003)is published in paperback (ISBN: 0-595-29710-2/$14.95) and hard cover (ISBN: 0-595-75092-3/$24.95) by iUniverse, Inc., and can be purchased by calling the publisher direct at 1-877-288-4737. Other venues where For My Children Who Are Poor can be purchased include online retailers iUniverse.com, barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, and booksamillion.com.

About iUniverse
iUniverse puts the power of publishing into the hands of companies and individuals, allowing them to publish and distribute professional quality books and documents – on demand, in print or electronic format. As a digital publishing infrastructure provider, the company offers a unique Publishing Commerce Platform to empower individuals, companies and publishers to maximize the value of their content through seamless assembly, production and delivery. It’s changing the rules of publishing. A record 750,000 books have already been printed and sold by iUniverse’s over 8,500 strong author base. The company has a wide range of customer and partner relationships with industry leaders including Adobe, Barnes & Noble, Hungry Minds (formerly IDG Books) and the Author’s Guild. iUniverse maintains operations in Campbell, California; Lincoln, Nebraska; New York, New York; and Shanghai, China. The company is headquartered in Campbell, Calif. For more company news and information, visit www.iuniverse.com.
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Media Contact:
D. Diego Torres
(215)675-1362
writeon4truth@aol.com