Robins Facing South (Poems)

"Floating down a mandolin's string of laughter" is how J. Andrew Rodriguez celebrates life in Robins Facing South. Rodriguez's poetry takes a compelling look at the breadth of the human condition. Teenage widows at a migrant labor camp, a preacher's infatuation with war, and a refugee's flight from torturers form themes of irony and anguish. Kindness assembles on the "grandstand of human conciliation," while elsewhere a demon seizes the "pendulum of sanity and swings it with monstrous abandon." Rodriguez examines our struggle to understand each other when "we forget the alchemy of our words." Rodriguez also touches on what remains in life when we lose love, and loved ones. Nature is vibrant in this book. A Northwest sunset looks "as if God has broken open a ruby and poured it out over the clouds." "Grave Digger for a Mexican Baby," "Blind Man News," and "The Mayor's Son's Shirts" are among poems that draw generously from Rodriguez's South Texas roots. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Rodriguez earned a law degree at the University of Oklahoma. He lives in Seattle with his wife Gayle and their dogs, Nikki and Gus.Rodriguez, J. Andrew is the author of 'Robins Facing South (Poems)' with ISBN 9780975598108 and ISBN 0975598104.