Coming very soon from Aztlan Libre Press:

Scribe of global soundscape, Reyes, builds upon the heartbeat of literary and blood ancestors, feeding her “mythic thirst for home” as she journeys back to cities devastated and torn by the politics of race, history, class and sexuality, greeting her like an outsider. And still, despite the cities’ fall from grace, each gritty image, drawn on multiple languages and rhythms, is a love song, a reflection, a naming of the self. Bittersweet, powerful and precise, I adore this important book and the work of Barbara Jane Reyes. ~ M. Evelina Galang

In “For the City that Nearly Broke Me,” Barbara Jane Reyes serenades us with poetry about Manila and West Oakland, two dynamic cities where the mythic and raw realism meet, and jazz riffs and raps with kundiman. Incantatory, gritty, at times heartbreaking, and, yes, celebratory, these poems are amulets for our broken world. ~ R. Zamora Linmark

In this fierce, feisty, anaphora-filled, shakedown serenade, Reyes hard-scrambles our senses to position us firmly in poetry meant to be electro-charge our attention real. This is a fine book of verse, reminiscent of Herrera, yet singly Reyes, too. The supple lines ring endless rounds, bringing us bits of battle singing and words wound true. Packs an amazing delivery and guarantees impact. ~ Allison A. Hedge Coke