Book 2 from the Sealy challenge, book 16 from this year’s AWP.
I would put this as 4.5. I like how he talks about space both as a multi-faceted pop culture reference and as a potential future site of recreating the problems that have plagued us on Earth. He is super sharp with the line breaks, which I love. And the titles? Incredible. The prose poetry pieces are also stellar, such as 16 Reasons Why a DACA Dreamer Will Be the First Person to Build a DIY Spaceship from Simple Materials, Someone’s Astronaut Tío is Selling a Constellation of Paletas on a Faraway Tropical Plant, and What this First-Generation Mexican/American Thinks About When I Think About Space Travel. The one about black holes, the one about millennial politics, also great. I bought this for the title, and it did not disappoint—I will check out his other work.
Absolutely, yes. This is needed on so many fronts. I agree wholeheartedly with this collection, on basically every aspect. Holding nothing back, Alan Chazaro is honest and deeply personal in his poems about immigration, the reality of life in America, and loss. This collection is incredibly short but it packs such a PUNCH. I loved it.