Contemplations: Verse and Prose

A multilingual collection of reflections in verse and prose that interrogates the realities we inherit, normalize, and rarely question. In his debut publication, Gustavo Alonso Montalvo brings together poems in English, Spanish, French, and German, including a fifteen-piece series based on Francisco de Goya’s “Pinturas Negras” alongside thought pieces, a narrative excerpt, and a journalistic article written throughout his formative years as a writer. A product of sustained observation and contemplation, the collection employs emotion, argumentation, and curiosity to challenge the structures, narratives, and unspoken assumptions that shape our lives. This dissection of the self through human nature and through society, including its norms and institutions, traces a teenager’s early steps toward thinking critically amid the uncertainties of youth and perspective. Read more