This Is Our Summons Now: Poems. By R. Joseph Rodríguez

“These are passionate poems that insist on living-in-the-word and map the path of a speaker who will not be pigeon-holed into one singular category. This Is Our Summons Now is a spellbinding and memorable debut collection.”—Sean Frederick Forbes, author of Providencia: A Book of Poems

“In his writing, R. Joseph Rodríguez always tugs on our hearts with his vulnerability mixed with power. His words are showered in love and heavy with pondering. We feel him, we hear him, and we understand him. These poems, therefore, humanize us a bit more. The titles alone are worth studying and the organization of each section is phenomenal. We want to remember, pronounce, understand the occupations, interrogate, and offer, as he calls us to do. These words should be read carefully and eaten with a hot chocolate on the side. What a treat to the soul and a blessing to every classroom that will use them!”—Lorena E. Germán, author of Textured Teaching: A Framework for Culturally Sustaining Practices

“R. Joseph Rodríguez has given us poems, written in both English and Spanish, attentive to many of the cultural and social divisions that separate us from ourselves and from others. “I with my American entangled tongue and mashed mind/am endangered in this strange land,” he writes.  Recovering his history, using both of his languages, recalling his memories of creative forebears (especially mothers and grandmothers) embracing the education of his students, and unafraid to love, Rodríguez writes poems that variously explore how to make us see our essentially human and more humane selves. In a time of social and climate emergency, it is good to have these poems among us.” —Margaret Gibson, Poet Laureate of the State of Connecticut

“R. Joseph Rodríguez’s maiden collection of poems summons the reader to witness the poet’s responses to a multitude of borders and margins lived in his native Texas (indeed a state of contested borders and margins) and in the world that justifies the urgency of now. Nonetheless, there is kindness and compassion and generosity in the summons. It is both a summons and a gift.”—Rafael Jesús González, Poet Laureate, Berkeley, California

“The energy in these poems, both on the surface and behind the words and lines, in both español and English, is buoyant. Each poem carries an optimism, a playfulness, small but very real joys, that will lift you up. Even in the poems speaking of dark experiences (domestic abuse, systemic racism, bullying, self-doubt), there is inextinguishable light, something generous that is and that will be. Take it with you after you read these poems, but never forget to share.”—Crag Hill, coeditor of Level Land: Poems For and About the I35 Corridor

“In this lyrical book, This Is Our Summons Now: Poems, R. Joseph Rodríguez invites us into his heart-home, where familia summons us to listen, to act, to respond—the ancestors, the abuelitas, the tias, the mother and father and siblings are all here, calling us to commune.”—Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Pura Belpré Award-winning author of Under the Mesquite

“These are the vigilant thoughts of a serious thinker. R. Joseph Rodríguez is a poet true to himself who insists on exposing the beauty, the anguish, and the complexity of his world. His vision is crisp; the emotion he portrays is raw and honest; and there is corazón in every word. Most importantly, Rodríguez’s book reminds us that poetry is for everyone, both for the poetically practiced and for novices unaccustomed to the intense power of words on the page; his poetry is for anyone who craves insight into the beauty of our shared realities.” —Ignacio Martínez, author of The Intimate Frontier: Friendship and Civil Society in Northern New Spain

“Essential, elegant, earthen, transcendent, respectful, tender, rich with care—the poems of R. Joseph Rodríguez lift us everywhere, and they have since he was very young. This gleaming book is cause for great celebration!”—Naomi Shihab Nye, Young People’s Poet Laureate, The Poetry Foundation

“This hauntingly beautiful collection of poems pulls the reader in completely—mind, body, and spirit. This is Our Summons Now: Poems invites us to do the honest work of facing our complicated histories and ourselves. The book calls for our liberation, if only we can summon the courage to listen.”—Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, author of Love from the Vortex & Other Poems and The Peace Chronicles

R. Joseph Rodríguez was born in Houston, Texas, in 1974. He has published various works as a poet, editor, essayist, literacy advocate, teacher educator, researcher, and translator. His poems have appeared in California English, English Journal, Flyway, New Square, Texas Observer, and various anthologies. He has held various occupations such as an advisor, busboy, butcher, community organizer, consultant, delicatessen clerk, editor, enumerator, food stocker, instructional coach, interpreter, landscape worker, literacy advocate, research analyst, school bus driver, teacher, and translator. Joseph earned degrees from Kenyon College, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Connecticut. 

Joseph is the founder of the literacy initiative named Libre con Libros. His recent work involves promoting more community poets in the schools for students and supporting teachers as scribes with their students. He is the recipient of awards and grants from the National Council of Teachers of English and National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Joseph lives in Austin and Fredericksburg, Texas. He can be reached via Twitter @escribescribe.