"Returning home after a long absence is not always easy. For Ray Gonzalaz, it is more than a visit; it is a journey to the underground heart.". "He has lived in other parts of the country for more than twenty years, but this award-winning poet now returns to the desert Southwest - a native son playing tourist - in order to unearth the hidden landscapes of family and race. As Gonzalez drives the highways of New Mexico and west Texas, he shows us a border culture rejuvenated by tourist and trade dollars, one that will surprise readers for whom the border means only illegal immigration, NAFTA, and the drug trade.". "Played out against a soundtrack of the Allman Brothers and The Doors, The Underground Heart takes readers on a trip through a seemingly barren landscape that teems with life and stories."--BOOK JACKET.