SOURCE: "Have Come: A Good Poet," in The New Republic, Vol. 107, No. 16, October 19, 1942, p. 512.

In the following review of Have Come, Am Here, Deutsch praises the collection as "a group of poems that, for all their obscurity, which is sometimes witty, sometimes profound, are luminous and vibrant with the quality of crystal. "

The title and even more the dedication of these poems lead one to expect the unexpected. And indeed, paradox and ambiguity leap out of the pages like so many rare and strange animals. What fascinates the observer, however, is not the difficulties that these lyrics present, though they are as singular as the work of Emily Dickinson or of Hopkins, but rather their pure intensity. There is not one, however faulty, that lacks the burning signature of the poetic imagination. José Garcia Villa belongs to the small company of religious poets who have been able to...