The Vickie Vértiz Admiration Society is Now in Session
Welcome to the Sunday post.
JOIN US on Zoom on Thursday, April 18th, 3pm-4pm Pacific, where Jessica Ceballos y Campbell and I will be in conversation with poet Vickie Vértiz about her book AUTO/BODY. RSVP by replying to this email to receive the Zoom room link the day before.
That sounds good to me: do whatever you want,
go whenever you want. And no tells you shit.
—from "'69 Chevy Impala"
This is a perfect book to talk about in the cab of Mommy's El Camino. Khadijah Queen says of the book: "The fierceness in AUTO/BODY does not relent, whether in its crisp memory-capture or in its attention to legacy, to present, to future in its constant ache and rift of loveliness and tumult."
You are a rat-poison excuse/ for t h o u g h t
—from "I don't know what to tell you about t e a r g a s"
As a writer who attempts to channel rage into my work, I find Vickie Vértiz's poetry to be a vivid, serrated, beautiful example to follow.
"Sometimes fueled by rage, sometimes by desire, this power serves as the driving force behind this collection."
—Gus Berg, ZYZZYVA
As an admirer, I'm sensitive to the images that connect to my core. Vértiz's first book, Palm Frond with Its Throat Cut was the winner of the 2018 PEN America Literary Award for Poetry, and I remember reading it, loving its fierceness, and thinking about my father's palm trees, and the two palm fronds I had tattooed on my shoulder blades on his birthday, the first one after he passed.
I came out to stay out
My engine wakes the dead
Under every school
—from "'85 Chevy El Camino"
There are not one, but two poems in this collection that feature the El Camino: "'70 Chevy El Camino" and "'85 Chevy El Camino." I read them aloud in case my father, wherever he is, is listening. If you scroll to the top of this email, you can see the one photo I have of the El Camino he had sometime between the red Camaro I called "Bucketseats" and the Cougar XR-7.
What does it cost us to make art and what is the cost if we don't?
—from "Anther"
I hope you've bought or borrowed a copy of this potent collection.
RSVP by replying to this email to receive the Zoom room link to our conversation on Thursday, April 18th with Vickie Vértiz. You do not need to be a subscriber to join us, but I hope you become one.