Tag: Chicano
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one more from Vincent Cooper
In my recent microreview & interview of Vincent Cooper’s Zarzamora (Jade Publishing, 2019), I spoke about Cooper’s ability to tap into lyricism that catalogues and captures through immersive narrative. When the subject is family, loss, and memory, taking one’s time with the weight of each detail is necessary and instructive. What matters ultimately, though, is what is […]
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microreview & interview: Zarzamora by Vincent Cooper
review by José Angel Araguz Vincent Cooper’s Zarzamora: Poetry of Survival (Jade Publishing, 2019) is a collection grounded in the great traditions of Chicano poetry. These poems recall the immersive narratives of Jimmy Santiago Baca and Luis J. Rodriguez along with the image-driven lyricism of Gary Soto’s early work. What sets Cooper’s work apart is the distinct […]
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lyrical alignment: Richard Rodriguez
This week’s lyrical alignment is drawn from an interview with writer Richard Rodriguez conducted by Hector A. Torres for the book Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers (University of New Mexico Press). I came across the passage below from a journal entry during my third year doing the PhD. I remember being struck by […]
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featured video: Bilingual Poetry Night reading!
This week I’m happy to share a recording of last month’s Bilingual Poetry Night held at The Gallery at Ten Oaks here in McMinnville, Oregon. I had the distinct of honor of being asked to do a featured reading. As I explain in the clip, I curated my reading selections for the event, choosing poems […]
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new book released!
I’m happy to share that my third poetry collection, Until We Are Level Again, is officially out from Mongrel Empire Press! It’s available for purchase here. This collection incorporates excerpts from my first chapbook, The Wall (Tiger’s Eye Press), into a sequence of poems that engages further with ideas of language, identity, family, work, and death. I […]
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* four years of the influence
This week marks the four year anniversary of The Friday Influence. So, as is customary: Yay! Sharing poems here continues to be a source of delight and honesty. I say honesty because putting into words some of the journey in understanding a poem, of considering and living with a poem, requires reflection and persistence. Poems […]