Poem of the Week: Pablo Miguel Martínez

azul / lejos

the math of dance

the math of breath

counting 4 / 4

with / on us / you

heartbeat’s meter

Lully’s baton

the up the down

•

peninsular thought

etched by the briny vastness

no easy sailing ’round it

I pray for         strong gusts

                        full masts

Voyages in English

the textbook’s name

part France   part isle

neither mine

I stand in the crow’s nest

searching for the far

blue of language

my anguished cartography

•

our pleas to Heaven

a newborn gazelle wobbling

swiftness soon enough

 —Pablo Miguel Martínez

Used by permission.

Pablo Miguel Martínez's collection of poems, Brazos, Carry Me (Kórima Press), received the 2013 PEN Southwest Book Award for Poetry. Martínez's work has appeared in journals, newspapers, and anthologies, including Americas Review, Best Gay Poetry 2008, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, El Paso Times, Gay and Lesbian Review, North American Review, San Antonio Express-News, and This Assignment Is So Gay. Martínez has been a recipient of the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Artistic Excellence, the Oscar Wilde Award, and the Chicano/Latino Literary Prize. His literary work has received support from the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation and the Artist Foundation of San Antonio. Martínez is a Co-Founder of CantoMundo, a national retreat-workshop for Latina/o poets. He teaches English at the University of Louisville.

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