American Jesus: Poems
- ISBN-10
- 1882688341
- ISBN-13
- 9781882688340
- Category
- Poetry / General
- Pages
- 103
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2007
- Publisher
- Tia Chucha Presss
- Author
- Richard Vargas
Description
With his latest collection of poems entitled American Jesus, poet Richard Vargas continues to explore the same themes and concerns from his first book, McLife--the spectrum of three high and low points in a Chicano man's existence. The poems are candid and, at times, brutally honest. Relationships, sex, politics, religion, and the mundane reality of work are presented in the belief that poetry and art in general can establish a common ground between us while maintaining our individual identity and personal validity.
American Jesus veers into a more prevalent political awareness only hinted at in the previous collection. The poet assumes a voice of dissent at a time when popular opinion considers such a stance to be unpatriotic. Vargas had handed out copies of his poems to strangers on the street, tacked them on community bulletin boards, and launched them into the Internet. Many of the anti-war poems in this book were printed and taped to the windows of his apartment, in plain view for his neighbors and anyone else to read. To Vargas, the majority of these people sat still as they appeared to be manipulated by government lies and deception. Seemingly swayed by corporate-owned media, many of them slapped yellow ribbon magnets on the backsides of their SUVs.
American Jesus is also a response to Laura Bush's closing the doors to poets (who had been invited to the White House for a celebration of the works of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Langston Hughes) when she realized they would be voicing opposition to President Bush's "Shock & Awe' war plans. While some poets often refuse to be political in their work (and thus unwittingly end up making a political statement), Vargas asks, "If not now, when?" American Jesus is a plea to look within ourselves and find the strength to break through the walls of fear and ignorance which we have allowed to be built around us.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2004-09-18
- 376 pages
- Ebook
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Similar books
-
狄金森全集：卷二·诗歌
By 艾米莉·狄金森... 把另一个吸收—像海绵—吸桶中水—一般—头脑正好是上帝的重量—因为—把它们掂一掂—八两半斤如果—有所不同—就像音节有别于声音—约1862(1863) 1896 633 (601)钟声停止时—礼拜—开始钟的—决断—轮齿—停止时—那是周圈—轮子的—极限—约1862(1863) 1945 634 (604)
-
The Works of Aphra Behn: The fair jilt and other short stories
By Aphra BehnThe Works of Aphra Behn: The fair jilt and other short stories
-
American Spirituals
By Jeffrey GreeneWinner of the Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize
-
(W)holes: Poems
By Cynthia MacdonaldI asked to be transferred to Sterling and Gems . But the tines , the blades , the facets Menaced me . I learned you break or are broken . And then a Texaco receptionist , Jack - In - The - Box waitress ... No need to spell the perils ...
-
Riley Love-Lyrics [By] James Whitcomb Riley; With Life Pictures by William B. Dyer.
By James Whitcomb RileyRiley Love-Lyrics [By] James Whitcomb Riley; With Life Pictures by William B. Dyer.
-
The Quicken Tree: Poems
By Bill KnottIn The Man Who Married His Checkout Lane, he writes: "Oh my checkout lane / has the longest wait of any--though unlike / all the others in line, I won't leaf through the life / those tabloids provide rumors of: none of them / are beautiful ...
-
Single Spies: Two Plays about Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt ; & Talking Heads : Six Monologues
By Alan BennettSingle Spies: Two Plays about Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt ; & Talking Heads : Six Monologues
-
Selected Poems [of] Baudelaire
By Charles BaudelaireSelected Poems [of] Baudelaire
-
Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats
By John KeatsThere he became particular friends with the headmaster's son, Charles Cowden Clarke, who was eight years his senior. Many years after Keats's death, Clarke recalled how as a schoolboy Keats had been “highly pugnacious” with an ...
-
南村草堂诗钞
By , 弘征好读书,尤精宋五子家言,于天文、舆地、兵法、河渠、水利,旁及艺术、方技靡不穷究。诗文皆有法度,不苟作。状言君天资高迈,践履笃实,平居以古名贤自期许,临事建树,卓卓如是,非偶然也。君生于乾隆四十一年丙申,春秋五十有八。嘉庆戊午举人,辛酉进士, ...