From the back of a mirror

From the Depths of a Mirror - Gerardo Mercado

"The units of poetic discourse in From the Depths of a Mirror expand a discussion around aesthetic achievement. When the poetic voice states: “I believe God is encounter” (19), Gerardo Mercado does not propose a profane mysticism with the aim of defiling images of saints or shattering religious statues; rather, he rearticulates a certain fervor for a questionable beyond by focusing passion on a tangible here and now. Paradise lies in the industriousness of the workshop and in the dignifying power of work, but not from a capitalist logic —little or nothing in this collection of poems considers economic well-being—, but rather in the gratification experienced by a sculptor when hallucinating before a pristine stone and glimpsing the promise of beauty along with the signs that will confirm humanity's passage through the world. The tremor of a sweaty hand and the bluntness of simple marble as considerations of the abstract or unreal brought to reality."

  -Efe Rosario