Books by Elsa Cross

The open mouth of the Orcus, in the front-cover photograph, represents an entrance to the underworld, according to all the symbolism embedded in the Gardens of Bomarzo, built in the 16th Century in central Italy. And this book actually seems to play with different strata of reality and perception...

Amorgos Notebook is a collection from 2007 that won for Elsa Cross Mexico's most prestigious poetry prize. Elsa Cross' work over the past several decades has demonstrated a fascination with Greece, and this sequence takes its departure from the island of Amorgos, in the Cyclades, home of remarkable ancient sculptures, and spectacular terrain.

Beyond the Sea brings together two book-length sequences first published in Mexico in the early years of the century, both taking their origins from Greece, a matter of central importance for the poet for many years -- the poems are odes and dithyrambs, with the spirit of one sequence being Apollonian, while the other is Dionysian.