A tokonoma is an alcove in a traditional Japanese house, which serves to display a scroll, ikebana or a special painting or print. It is also a kind of code-word in neo-baroque Hispanic writing, having been much used by the movement's founder and inspiration, Cuban poet José Lezama Lima. Here the tokonoma is part of José Kozer's linguistic armoury: another Cuban poet, but this time one in exile in the USA and, by common consent, the doyen of the current Hispanic neo-baroque. Here Kozer engages with Japanese and Chinese poetry, learning, myth and much more besides. This is Kozer's second collection with Shearsman, following Anima (2011). This edition contains only the English translation: a separate edition is available, containing the Spanish text together with the translation, on facing pages. - from Amzon