A schoolteacher whose poetry catapulted her to early fame in her native Chile and an international diplomat whose boundary-defying sexuality still challenges scholars, Gabriela Mistral (1889&;1957) is one of the most important and enigmatic figures in Latin American literature of the last century. The Locas mujeres poems collected here are among Mistral&;s most complex and compelling, exploring facets of the self in extremis&;poems marked by the wound of blazing catastrophe and its aftermath of mourning.             From disquieting humor to balladlike lyricism to folkloric wisdom, these pieces enact a tragic sense of life, depicting &;madwomen&; who are anything but mad. Strong and intensely human, Mistral&;s poetic women confront impossible situations to which no sane response exists. This groundbreaking collection presents poems from Mistral&;s final published volume as well as new editions of posthumous work, featuring the first English-language appearance of many essential poems. Madwomen promises to reveal a profound poet to a new generation of Anglophone readers while reacquainting Spanish readers with a stranger, more complicated &;madwoman&; than most have ever known.