I still can remember the early summer of the year 2000 perfectly well. The constant requests of my wife to give her more paper, the concentration on her works that was little short of obsession, making her deaf and dumb towards all that was not within the subject area of her poetry.
     Bit by bit I was allowed to read the composed poems and to think about them. (The version in its present form ties up exactly with the chronological order of their creation.)
     One poem was lined up next to the following one with a breathtaking velocity that reminded me the genesis of "The player" by Dostojewski, arising an iridescent rainbow of topics that touched on and complemented one another, seeming to pulse all around a central issue, that perhaps could be described as the sounding out of the hidden depths of human personality.
     The progress in reading showed every time more clearly the adventurous nature of the journey mi wife was facing and the ups and downs in her soul that had accumulated in the course of time now laying claim to the right to emerge to the surface by a landscape painting in words and make its public appearance.
     The quoted details of famous painters' works in order to illustrate the moving subject areas as a rule were taken of Romanticism, since that epoch reflects best the perspectives of the depths of human heart with overwhelming panoramic views.
     Without doubt I will leave the work of interpretation at issue to those who are more qualified than I am, merely I would like to make the annotation that most of what is written down here is founded on what I went through, because above all I had the good fortune to participate vividly in the years of Genoveva's youth through countless conversations specially before the composing of her poems that provided me with an added advantage compared with many another.
     The work, started last year, is now available and I hope the reading matter will give the reader at least the same delight that I felt translating.
     The choice of words for the translation not in every case complied strictly with the dictionary. From time to time the whole purpose of Genoveva's proposition was decisive although differences in phrasal construction had to be accepted.
     This handing, possibly will be understood as imprecision, but has got its excuse in the knowledge of the author's world of ideas as well as in a more exact dependence on what was intended to be transmitted to the reader who has a good command of the Spanish language used in the original version. It is undoubtedly within the bounds of possibility that translations to come may vary in comparison with the one available.
     As it was intended to do the best to transport the tender texture from the Spanish language into English as undamaged as possible, besides of a choice of words that had to bear in mind the fidelity of meaning, above all it had to be taken into consideration that the compound of a whole of 52 poems couldn't be regarded as independent single works but as a wholeness coordinated on each other, using key-words with universal appearance against the backdrop of a reality native to the Mediterranean coast, in addition to its world of ideas flooded with sunshine consequently producing "specific exposure times".
     Just the title "Almonds with chocolate" elucidates, that not all in life has got the order and habit, we generally believe to know. For that reason it may be absolutely worthwhile to join the author on her voyage so that each of us may throw a light on what may be concealed in the depths of one's personality, applying with courage the conclusions drawn from an unalterable past to convert future into an ideal present.

Klaus Zorn, January 2007