In “Lord Spanglish Me,” J. Michael Martinez writes, “Spanglish mi lengua para ti/ that I may break open the promise-space of my fear, & /become ladder;” a line that represents the heart of his poetry collection, Museum of the Americas. Martinez examines the historical context of immigration and assimilation from a perspective that moves between formal to deeply personal. The personal poems that work to preserve important family moments come as a refreshing shock to beautifully researched and denser poems for which Martinez is our “ladder,” up and through the rungs of images & history that define our people and this country. Martinez takes the reader through the research process: referencing art, photography, and philosophy as introductions to these poems. These moments bring to mind Natasha Trethewey’s historical poems in their breadth, form, and symbolic examination of these influences on our viewpoint. Martinez’s poems examine the body count of American culture, physical and spiritual, requiring the reader to reckon with a history that is ever present.

I can easily see why this book made the long list for the National Book Award: it is cavernous instead of deep and colorful in both attractive and unattractive ways. Museum of the Americas also wades through the hot-button issue of immigration from the immigrant's perspective. This is in no way light reading, which should come as no surprise. It didn't suit me, but I can see its importance and appeal.