On Wings of Silence Mexico ’68 – My Book Review

On Wings of Silence Mexico ’68 – My Book Review

“They kill people-young-old

who only want to speak their truth.

There are never enough tears.

to wash away the crimson blood.”

As I’m driving in unexpected rain, a Chris Issak song, “Somebody’s Crying” comes on and immediately I’m transported back to the book I’ve been reading, On Wings of Silence Mexico ‘68. The song echoed back perfectly to the main character in this book, Diana and her brief time in Mexico. I know it sounds odd connecting to a character in a book through a song but Issak’s song allowed me in that brief span of welcome rain to connect to Diana’s loss, longing, and the silent tears she shed all in the span of a short time while in Mexico.

This is my first book of verse and it was a powerful read. Each word flowed into the next and carried the story poignantly. Author Dede Fox immediately transported me into the story quickly regarding Diana’s journey in Mexico City.

On Wings of Silence is a mixture of simple and complex stanza verse-forms mainly told by the voice of Diana and other character dialogue. The narration and descriptions reminded me of my own brief time I spent in Mexico and was very true to life.

The most poetic stanza that deeply affected me was the Day of the Dead where it talks about the church bells tolling, summoning of spirits, the clacking of bones, the placing of marigolds, and the swallowing of unshed tears.

On Wings of Silence is a haunting, potent story. This is another book that adds to my history knowledge about the little-known event called the Tlatelolco massacre in 1968 in Mexico City where an unknown number of unarmed civilians were killed due to rioting over the Olympic games. The games went on like nothing ever happened in Tlatelolco.

Here is a brief video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib7JTd7jCPU

As I read the last words I’ll forever be haunted by never knowing exactly what happened to Guillermo, just as Diana was making a memorable book. If you’ve never read a story told through verse then I highly recommend you start with On Wings of Silence.

Thank you, Dede Fox, for the book to review for Lone Star Literary Life. Hope to meet you in person someday to get you to autograph it.