Twenty-five Cent Stories

First, if I weren’t a poet, I would have no idea how many thousands (?) of poetry titles are published (And they say no one reads poetry or that it’s dead). That said, there is no way I have read them all and there are still some piled up in my bookcase still waiting to be read. I offer here, however, a few titles that were my favorite over the past ten years that bring joy every time I return to them.

Work Done Right by David Dominguez (University of Arizona, 2002)

The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body by Alberto Rios (Copper Canyon, 2002)

House Waiting for Music by David Hernandez (Tupelo, 2003)

Here, Bullet by Brian Turner (Alice James, 2004)

Bent to the Earth by Blas Manuel de Luna (Carnegie-Mellon, 2005)

Always Danger by David Hernandez (University of Southern Illinois, 2006)

Modern History: Prose Poems 1978-2008 by Christopher Buckley (Tupelo, 2008)

I look forward for all the magnificent titles forthcoming in 2010 and the next ten years. Here’s to new poets making their debuts, debut poets getting out their sophmore efforts, and everyone else adding a title to their bibliography. Happy new year and decade.

It’s been a few weeks since my reading at the National Museum of American History. I was treated very well by Magdalena Mieri and her folks at the Smithsonian. Such nice people!

Here’s me at the mic reading. I must say, I didn’t expect to be so mentally exhausting to read so many times in so few days. But by the fourth reading, I had it down.

My gracious host Francisco Aragon, Naomi Ayala (great reader!), and myself

I found it interesting that this date palm knife was displayed in the museum, what more, it’s from Indio, CA.