Synopses & Reviews
"Like the poet's native Chicago, even when violent or troubling, Paul Martinez Pompa's poems risk beauty. His work possesses a fluidity that appears both effortless and well earned. His is a Chicago Renaissance of one--Gwendolyn Brooks's Bronzeville and Carl Sandburg's 'city of big shoulders' becoming a 'city of broken lovers' and 'an entire city in your ears' in Martinez Pompa's capable hands. Playful and political and passionate, the poems in My Kill Adore Him mark an important debut, one you'll surely adore." --Kevin Young, author of Dear Darkness and For the Confederate Dead
"This is an important book if we care about the lives of men, day-laborers, immigrants, factory workers and those on the urban fringe who don't get a fair shake. And this is an important book if we don't. Paul Martinez Pompa knows how to write; these poems vividly evoke people and lives that urge us toward awareness and honesty and compassion. Poetry can do no better than this." --Valerie Martinez, author of Each and Her and Absence, Luminescent.
"Paul Martinez Pompa deconstructs with a deft sword. Straddling literary strategies, no supposition nor paradigm is safe. He slays the stereotypic dragons within as well as without, putting popular culture, elegy, nightmare, personal narrative, identity and gender politics in the same hat, and drawing from the source, Pompa plays a poetic hand for keeps. Every turn of trope is more delightful than the last--a breakaway collection from an exciting new writer." --Lorna Dee Cervantes, author of Drive: The First Quartet
"This is one tough, smart poet. The poems of Paul Martinez Pompa are gritty and visceral, but never cross the line into sensationalism. They are poems that vividly evoke the urban world, especially Chicago, without ever lapsing into urban cliche. They are poems that seek justice for the Latino community without ever resorting to the overheated language that all too often consigns poetry of social conscience to oblivion." --Martin Espada, 2008 Andres Montoya Poetry Prize judge
My Kill Adore Him is a collection of poems from Andres Montoya Poetry Prize-winner Paul Martinez Pompa. With a unique, independent voice, Martinez Pompa interrogates masculinity, race, language, consumerism, and cultural identity in poems that honor los olvidados, the forgotten ones, who range from the usual suspects brutalized by police to factory workers poisoned by their environment, from the victim of a homophobic beating in the boys' bathroom to the body of Juan Doe at the Cook County Coroner's Office. Some of the poems rely on somber, at times brutal, imagery to articulate a political stance while others use sarcasm and irony to deconstruct political stances themselves.
Review
"Martinez Pompa's collection engages the urban landscape and how its cultural and historical legacies extended south into the border and Mexico itself. . . . As a first collection, My Kill Adore Him. . . is definitely a find, with its impressive range of Latino literary influences, from Herrera to Andres Montoya, to Martin Espada. With such poetic energy and intensity in one book, there's no doubt that Martinez Pompa's next collection will engrave him on the literary map." --El Paso Times
Review
"In his breathtaking debut poetry collection, Martinez Pompa bursts onto the contemporary Latino scene with literary guns ablaze. He is precisely what we need right now: a brave poet just as critical of himself as he is of others. Within the pages of this clever and brutally honest text lie the words of an old soul--who just happens to be a young poet. Martinez Pompa's youth and aged wisdom coexist in each and every poem, resulting in a fresh, yet deadly serious new voice that is not to be trifled with. . . . Highly recommended reading for anyone on the lookout for what comes next in Latino poetry." --Multicultural Review
Review
"There is so much more going on in this book . . . My Kill Adore Himis an exciting and tough collection of very well-composed and accessible poems. It's been a while since I tore through a book of poetry and really enjoyed the read." --Harriet: A blog from the Poetry Foundation
Review
"My Kill Adore Himis a collection of poetry from Paul Martinez Pompa focusing on the issues of masculinity, race, and who people are. My Kill Adore Himis an entertaining and thought provoking work, highly recommended." --The Midwest Book Review
Synopsis
My Kill Adore Him is a collection of poems from Andres Montoya Poetry Prize-winner Paul Martinez Pompa. With a unique, independent voice, Martinez Pompa interrogates masculinity, race, language, consumerism, and cultural identity in poems that honor los olvidados, the forgotten ones, who range from the usual suspects brutalized by police to factory workers poisoned by their environment, from the victim of a homophobic beating in the boys' bathroom to the body of Juan Doe at the Cook County Coroner's Office. Some of the poems rely on somber, at times brutal, imagery to articulate a political stance while others use sarcasm and irony to deconstruct political stances themselves.
About the Author
"Martinez Pompa's collection engages the urban landscape and how its cultural and historical legacies extended south into the border and Mexico itself. . . . As a first collection, My Kill Adore Him . . . is definitely a find, with its impressive range of Latino literary influences, from Herrera to Andres Montoya, to Martin Espada. With such poetic energy and intensity in one book, there's no doubt that Martinez Pompa's next collection will engrave him on the literary map." --El Paso Times
"In his breathtaking debut poetry collection, Martinez Pompa bursts onto the contemporary Latino scene with literary guns ablaze. He is precisely what we need right now: a brave poet just as critical of himself as he is of others. Within the pages of this clever and brutally honest text lie the words of an old soul--who just happens to be a young poet. Martinez Pompa's youth and aged wisdom coexist in each and every poem, resulting in a fresh, yet deadly serious new voice that is not to be trifled with. . . . Highly recommended reading for anyone on the lookout for what comes next in Latino poetry." --Multicultural Review
"There is so much more going on in this book . . . My Kill Adore Him is an exciting and tough collection of very well-composed and accessible poems. It's been a while since I tore through a book of poetry and really enjoyed the read." --Harriet: A blog from the Poetry Foundation
"My Kill Adore Him is a collection of poetry from Paul Martinez Pompa focusing on the issues of masculinity, race, and who people are. My Kill Adore Him is an entertaining and thought provoking work, highly recommended." --The Midwest Book Review