New Poetry by Texas author<\/p>\n

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Tom\u00e1s Q. Mor\u00edn is a contemporary American poet and assistant professor of creative writing at Rice University. His body of work includes several poetry collections and a memoir. He has co-edited a book of essays on Philip Levine and has translated work by Pablo Neruda, Luisa Pardo, and Gabino Rodriguez. In Machete<\/i>, his latest collection of twenty-two poems, Mor\u00edn leaps from idea to idea, surprising and delighting readers at every turn. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The title of his first poem \u201cI Sing the Body Aquatic\u201d parodies Whitman\u2019s \u201c<\/i>I Sing the Body Electric.\u201d Mor\u00edn pokes fun at his acute hyperhidrosis (sweaty hands and feet) while his images bounce from red-faced missionaries riding bicycles to the splayed fins of evolutionary relatives \u201cwhen the earth was all aquarium.\u201d Throughout the collection, he reflects on his heritage from \u201cthe land of Montezuma\u201d into a life far from the Atlantic or Mediterranean, where \u201cshame and fear are still the coins of the realm.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhiteface\u201d is a list of things men of color need know to survive, especially when driving in the dark. The writer wonders if they should paint their faces white, like happy clowns. The poem begs to be read aloud to give each of the ninety-eight statements time to breathe, a privilege many have been denied. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWeather\u201d is another example of Mor\u00edn\u2019s originality. Lines can be read left to right or in two columns. Both convey the painful history of police brutality, those days when <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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hope doesn\u2019t                rise like bread<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

drink the sunlight        to stay fed. (2021)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s impossible to read a poem by Tom\u00e1s Q. Mor\u00edn once. He plays with words, goes off in so many unexpected directions that readers wonder what they\u2019ve missed. The title poem \u201cMachete\u201d is no exception. One image that screams, however, is the speaker sharpening the edge of his smile when faced with those who fear \u201cthis face, this hair so unlike theirs.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cExtraordinary Rendition\u201d jumps from jazz singers to CIA agents \u201cstaring at computer screens.\u201d It is hard to keep up with Mor\u00edn\u2019s mental agility, but many of the images are searing, like \u201cdeath when it comes from the sky makes a music so hypnotic you\u2019ll never forget it.\u201d This poem leaves readers with profound feelings of loss and many questions without answers.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cA Sigh,\u201d however, is a romp through wordplay, greatly enhanced by the \u201cNotes\u201d <\/i>section at the end of the book. A tongue-twisting read-aloud, the poem contains fifty different translations of the opening three lines of Dante\u2019s Commedia <\/i>and ends with the very last line as the only one written by Mor\u00edn\u2014 \u201cand we, we hardly knew the difference.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To the writer, nothing is off-limits. \u201cDuct Tape\u201d is written from the point of view of duct tape and introduces readers to a woman who took five inches of his life. He concludes he \u201cfelt like a coat\/of armor for the only bird to ever learn\/that running could be flying.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cSartana and Machete in Outer Space,\u201d dedicated to actors Jessica Alba and Danny Trejo, doesn\u2019t resonate as much for those unfamiliar with the Machete<\/i> movies, but readers can infer that even in a violent world, love rises from the confusion. In \u201cLife Preserver,\u201d the next poem, Mor\u00edn adds, \u201cAnd if nothing will free us from death\/at least love will save us from life.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cVallejo\u201d captures the isolation and grief of the pandemic. The author describes poet Cesar Vallejo looking \u201clike a young Abraham Lincoln\/in the sketches of Picasso.\u201d Readers, however, will agree with Mor\u00edn; we don\u2019t want to see \u201c<\/i>the planet this sad.\u201d <\/i>One single line in \u201cTried and True\u201d <\/i>could be a poem on its own: \u201cpain is the anchor on a ship with no sails.\u201d <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Reading Mor\u00edn\u2019s anthology is like going on a joyride with him, his mind going to funny, unexpected places, even when he\u2019s diapering, feeding, burping, and rocking his baby. Who else thinks of word etymology while listening to OCEAN on the sound machine and watching Twilight Turtle stand guard? In \u201cRoyal Silence,\u201d he reflects on fatherhood.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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As a new father, I am not that pyramid<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

   of fish: my body is all eyes and eyes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some of them watch for you in the west<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Where the lion sun yawns and shakes off<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

   its sleep before it purrs, and hungry,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

dives deep in the deep of the deep.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In the end, the poet returns to \u201cMachete\u201d with an explanation of his earlier poem. He talks about \u201cweaponizing my smile\/by giving it a sharp blade\/to slice all the white\/supremacists\/inside that poem.\u201d He admits that he forgot to put laughter in the original poem, that anger can also be funny. The author encourages readers to embrace that \u201cwild\/inner-something\u201d we once had.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Kudos to Mor\u00edn for his originality, for leaving all his windows open to the diverse ideas\/words that come his way, and for crafting them into literary art.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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