Twenty years ago, when Silver Mendez was the youthful author of two published books of poetry, he bragged that he was the first Chicano to write in complete sentences. His career has been going steadily downhill ever since. But a letter from Spain may change his luck. Silver is invited to Madrid to participate in a conference on Chicano literature. Now all he needs is money???for a plane ticket, a new passport, and a place to stay. And oh, yes???he needs to be able to send e-mail from Spain. Silver, a poet without a job, a home, or even a typewriter to his name, has his work cut out for him. His old friend Al Sanchez, a body and fender man who used to play drums in a rock band, is tapped out and angry because Silver never repaid Al??'s last loan. But even in the face of these imposing obstacles, Silver is determined not to miss this chance at the life a poet should live.

Gary Soto introduced us to Silver in "Nickel and Dime," where the homeless poet crossed paths with an assortment of other hard-luck Oakland compadres. Here once again Soto??'s virtuoso ability to combine humor and pathos etches a warmhearted portrait of the stumbling Silver. Even while we laugh at his misadventures, we cheer him on as he lurches toward a new life with an old love.