And This House is Only a Nest

"And This House is Only a Nest begins with an abuelo-a grandpa-who is not the gentle sort but one that conjures up fear, anger, work, stubbornness, and resilience. Then a peek at the poet's father, his mother, the mocosos on his street, classmates, locos sparking up joints, misinterpreted Bible passages, soccer as metaphor-realistic scenes rendered like Dutch paintings. One of the best poems references the Los Angeles Dodgers, the late innings, with 'three kids, two strikes... while visiting his imprisoned father. Surrounded by troubles in the initial poems, the last poems soften into a coda that is something like a sigh, a sigh of relief leaving that 'lopsided' house called childhood. Having searched for an adult man to emulate, the poet discovers, to his surprise and ours, that he has become that man, a husband, a father, a contemplative figure."
-Gary Soto, author of Baseball in April and Other Stories

Jose Oseguera is the author of the poetry collection The Milk of Your Blood (Kelsay Books). His poems have appeared in Chautauqua, Sonora Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Catamaran and elsewhere. He was named one of the Sixty Four Best Poets of 2019 by the Black Mountain Press. He was the recipient of the Nancy Dew Taylor Award in 2019 and placed 2nd in the 2020 Hal Prize Contest. His writing has been nominated for the Best of the Net award (2018, twice in 2019) as well as the Pushcart (2018 - 2020) and Foreword (2020) Prizes.