Comments on: 187 Reasons

By: Vivek Narayanan

Vivek Narayanan — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:59:34 +0000

Thank you for introducing me to this poet, Rigoberto. Looks really amazing. Viva the undocument!
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By: Rigoberto

Rigoberto — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:53:48 +0000

Steve, this is actually not Herrera’s selected volume, but an entirely different project. His official “new and selected” titled HALF OF THE WORLD IN LIGHT will be published with the University of Arizona Press in May. I don’t know, however, if selections of the LOTERIA CARDS AND FORTUNE POEMS (which included those marvelous woodcuts by Mexican artist Artemio Rodriguez) will be included in this new release. And I do agree with you, those loteria poems are excellent.
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By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:48:09 +0000

Herrera may be the only poet overtly influenced by Ginsberg who has really done something amazing with that influence. (Of course, there are Spanish-language and performance-oriented influences as well, which I’m not as well equipped to recognize.) I’ve been enjoying his book a great deal, and I hope to have more to say about it elsewhere later this year: I’ve been following him since the 1990s and hoping for a selected much like this one. Unfortunately, my favorite among his previous books might be his set of poems based on loteria cards: I wish it were well represented in the selected– anyone know why it’s not?
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By: Robert Vasquez

Robert Vasquez — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 03:28:09 +0000

Dear Rigoberto,
Thank you so much for this posting. We need more Latino voices like yours who can educate us as to the dangers of the current xenophobia.
And kudos to Juan Felipe Herrera: Nothing is more difficult and “risky”–a term that’s often inappropriately applied to poets who don’t take real artistic risks–than to create an overtly political poetry.
And Lou Dobbs is indeed frightening: He’s the Joseph Goebbels of the 21st century; he’s CNN’s minister of propaganda whose nightly emissions no longer make their way into my household.
(And congratulations, Rigoberto, are in order: You’ve rightfully earned a tenured professorship at Rutgers!)
All the best,
Robert
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