Only the Road / Solo el Camino

"Every compendium attempts to explain something. Because it includes voices 'from inside and out,' the book readers hold in their hands demonstrates the continuities and coincidences, departures and ruptures, of a process that is human as well as literary. It is history in other codes." - Silvio Rodríguez, Cuban singer-songwriter

"The glory and triumph of Margaret Randall’s gathering comes directly from a half century spent in and out of Cuba, the work of a participant-observer and a poet attuned to the work of others in a country long the seat of one of the world’s great centers of poetry with strong attachments to the world at large. Her voice as a translator is impeccable, close up and audible and open to all sides of what has been a long and complicated—and often contradictory—history. That so much is present here—old and new, simple and richly complex, at home and in exile—makes this an assemblage that goes to the limits of what such a gathering can possibly be. As a work for the understanding of what has happened so near to us and so far away, Only the Road is a book not only for the here and now but also for the ages." - Jerome Rothenberg

"Only the Road is a major cultural intervention at a crucial time when both the Spanish- and English-speaking literary world and beyond may experience—be moved by, delight in, weep with—the power and historical importance of a forceful body of work that defines an immense cultural legacy. This is a magnificent time to open the floodgates of a further-to-be-known poetry; a magnificent tome to enhance our détente with Cuba. Cuba: its hopes and fears, its dreams, its promise, its extraordinary intellectual rigor, its poetic literacy and resistance, its survival, a poetry captured here of over eight decades, entangled with a unique and complicated history, that anyone paying attention today cannot ignore. Margaret Randall, prodigious poet, writer, thinker, translator, editor, teacher, activist has accomplished a task of a lifetime. She has given full voice to this small island’s powerfully diverse universe. The poets here are individually—racially, politically, sexually—complex, with life stories that are captured here as well, human and heroic. Randall exhibits great care and integrity to the task. Brilliant work. 'see that you don’t abandon them./islands are imaginary worlds./cut from the sea. they journey in the loneliness of rootless lands.' (Reina Maria Rodriquez)"  - Anne Waldman, Poet, Artistic Director of the Kerouac School Summer Writing Program

"Randall’s collection of poetry is encyclopedic, including a vast stylistic range representative of a range of generations, some little-known voices as well as a number of LGBTQ writers. . . . Those that love poetry and are interested in seeing the work of Cubans, and especially those that also speak Spanish, should get this excellent collection." - Seattle Book Mama

"This anthology serves as a broad, bilingual survey of Cuban poets born during the twentieth century. Special attention is paid to diversity, with women making up nearly half of the authors represented. While it’s difficult to make generalizations about style with so many on display, the sum effect is that of a time-lapse shot taken over multiple generations that shows a kind of undeniable truth about the essence of Cuban poets and their craft." - World Literature Today

"I recommend Only the Road/Solo el camino highly. It’s a beautiful collection of poetry, some that has not been published in English translation and will be new to readers. It is also a corrective to the biased view of Cuban literature as repressed or propaganda depending on how widely published it is. We are opening up to Cuba finally, so it is incumbent on us to understand it better and how better than through its poetry." - Tonstant Weader

"Now a North American readership that knows little of foreign literatures may be able to read one of the best and most applauded poetries on the continent, as it comes to know the spiritual side of Cuba that the U.S. blockade has prevented it from experiencing first-hand." (translated from the Spanish)
  - Marilyn Bobes, La Jiribilla

"Bilingual and including short biographies of each poet, Only the Road / El Solo Camino emphasizes diversity as well as excellence, aiming for a balance that asserts that great poetry can be written by any person regardless of class, gender or race. Randall has spent years in Cuba and so is familiar with its people, its culture and its art; her knowledge is clear in her book’s introduction, which attempts to present Cuba’s recent history in a light unbiased by popular opinion." - Marisa Doherty, Jackalope Magazine

"Including the work of Cuban poets living both on and off the island, this beautifully edited work is one of the most comprehensive volumes of contemporary Cuban poetry translated into English. . . . Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers."
  - Y. Fuentes, Choice

"Impeccably designed . . . An anthology that is very representative of Cuba’s poetic output." - Marithelma Costa, Literature and Arts of the Americas