Más Que No Love It

Jim Sagel

Sagel captures the voice of his adopted family and neighbors in Espanola, New Mexico in these bilingual stories.  This collection rings with humor, insight, and wisdom, and reflects his precise ear for the Spanish dialect peculiar to Northern New Mexico. Behind the folk tradition of the dichos and cuentos (popuar sayings and stories) that Sagel retells so lovingly is a moving and honorable story of a people shielded, but not totally removed, from time. 

“In Sagel’s stories . . . one hears the ordinary, indelible voices of Northern New Mexico, while the narrator’s voice keeps rolling on, always familial, wise to ambiguity and paradox, never condescending.”—William De Buys

                                    Everybody knows her, this woman who lives on the streets.  Whether it’s freezing cold or ruthlessly hot, you can always find her at the side of the road, walking along, sitting down, or simply standing there like a dusty statue.
                                    She lives so far outside the circle of normal human existence that many call her a witch.  But I don’t think she is—that is, I don’t exactly believe in witches (not in the light of day, at least).
                                    Witchcraft is the name we give to those things we don’t understand—or what we don’t really care to understand: poverty, disease, and our fear of death.
                                    And this poor, louse-ridden woman with her dirty rags, sunken eyes and ratty hair looks so much like the hideous figure of Death buried in the back of our minds that we tremble at the sight of her and cringe behind our crucifixes.
                                    Yet, I do feel I ought to tell you about the time we were on our way to El Rito and she asked us for a ride.  We turned her down, naturally—who would want to spend half an hour cooped up in a car with that stench?
                                    We left her behind.  And though we didn’t see a single car on the way, when we got to El Rito she was already there, sitting on a cottonwood trunk, waiting for us with a curse.
             —“Witch”

6 x 9 inches • 117 pages • ISBN 0-931122-62-7 • $9.95