Overview

Bilingual Edition Just when you thought it was safe to liberate beautiful and natural haiku into the eloquent abode of nature, only to be violently attacked by a horrid, supernatural hybrid called el chupa-ku. Combining the simple, American haiku form with the legend and lore of el chupacabras, this unassuming, little book of short poems packs a swift kick to the literary pants in two languages: English and Spanish. Truly, this book can only be enjoyed in the dim-lit hours of the night with a bottle of mescal. ¡Orale!-Justo cuando creías que era seguro liberar el hermoso y natural haiku en la elocuente morada de la naturaleza, solo para ser atacado violentamente por un horrible híbrido sobrenatural llamado el chupa-ku. Combinando la sencilla forma del haiku estadounidense con la leyenda y la tradición del chupacabras, este modesto y pequeño libro de poemas cortos te da un golpe de efecto literario en dos idiomas: inglés y español. En verdad, este libro solo se puede disfrutar en las horas de poca luz de la noche con una botella de mezcal. ¡Orale!

Full Product Details

9781968958015

Table of Contents

Reviews

""The Chupacabra, like Bigfoot and other cryptozoological entities -- just goes to show the possibilities of things unknown to man lurking and existing on the very edges of reality."" ---Daniel Perez, author of Bigfoot At Bluff Creek: A Pictorial Discussion ""What a delight to read the many machinations of Juan Perez's nimble mind as he leads us in this dizzying dance through a maze of mad cryptid possibilities in the realm of the chupacabra. How much fun can one have while experiencing these iterations of myth and folklore? Oodles, a gigaton. This collection grants a hypnagogic, entrancing entraining reading experience. The way he pops pop culture in the short form moves us along to reveal ever-widening connections, and deeper truths, finger snaps us awake/entranced. Even as we stumble/slide upon seeing the blood and gore, we are bone and intestine, disciples peering through the haze of a supernatural/natural violence into glimpses of our own innards. Wry, dry humorous, deft this is a new and wondrous frontier for SCIFAIKU. Juan Perez stakes a claim and raises the stakes for the possibilities of what can be told, re/imagined, engaged, wrenched, wrung and wrought in and through this form. Bravo!"" ---Akua Lezli Hope, Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry & Elgin Award Winner ""In 100 haiku bites, Juan Manuel Pérez delivers cheeky, bloody fun in a bilingual frenzy of modern monster lore! (Come for the occasional harvest of goats, stay for ... El Luchacabrador?!) I loved chewing the poet's verses in both English and my rusty high-school español. Read them all at once, or savor each morsel! Either way, you'll soon be back for more!"" -Randy ""Sherpa"" Brown, editor of the anthology ""Cryptids, Kaiju & Corn: Poems and Micro-Stories about Modern Midwest Monsters""

Author Information

About the AuthorJuan Manuel Pérez, a Mexican-American poet of Indigenous descent and the Poet Laureate for Corpus Christi, Texas (2019-2020), is the author of numerous poetry books including the award-wining, poetic-memoir, THIRTY YEARS AGO: LIFE AND THE FIRST GULF WAR (2023) and the Mexican-American Barrio Horror Novel-In-Verse, LA SANTA MADRE TAMALERA (2023). Juan, is also the 2021 Horror Authors Guild's Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award winner and a recipient of a 2021 Horror Writers Association Diversity Grant. This poet's credits also include one recent Honorable Mention in the 2025 Inaugural War Poetry Postcard Contest, a 2024 Regal Summit Book Award, two Aphelion's Best Poetry Of The Year Listings (2023, 2024), two Pushcart Prize Nominations (2017, 2023), three Elgin Book Award Nominations (2021, 2022, 2023), four Rhysling Award Nominations (2011, 2012, 2013, 2020), four Dwarf Star Award Nominations (2012, 2020, 2021, 2022) with one Honorable Mention win in 2022, and one H.E.R.O.I.C. People's Choice Award Nomination (2024).Juan's maternal lineage flows through the Purépecha and Otomi people. Currently, the family is also verifying their alleged descendancy to Emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin II through this same line after Ancestry DNA family tree links led to said conclusion. Additionally, relational ties to the mythological Quinametzin, the Indigenous giants of Mexico who purportedly built some of the older pyramids of Mexico, have traditionally been a part of the family's stories. His paternal lineage runs through the Coahuiltecanos, or Indigenous Tejanos, and the modern day Xicanos. In the mid-1990's while still in the military, he was inducted into the Memphis Tia-Piah Big River Clan Warrior Society, a Gourd Dancer Society, and has served on several pow-wow committees and associations as a board member and organizer, as well as leading Red Thunder, a color guard made up of Indigenous Veterans and active-duty service members. While a part of these Tennessee Indigenous associations, Juan and his wife, Dr. Malia Ann Perez, and their two children, along with other various peoples associated with the Mississippi Delta, were part of the historic Great Chickasaw Nation's First Annual Homecoming Celebration on November 5, 1994. This event was literally the ""Restaging of The Trail Of Tears"" which included a ferry/barge crossing (sponsored by the US Army Corps of Engineers) from the Arkansas side onto Mud Island on the Memphis, Tennessee side. Then, after remarks from city officials, they traveled to Desoto Park on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff which was to be renamed ""Chickasaw Heritage Park."" This ""Rendezvous On The River"" as it was promoted was also symbolically called the ""Reverse Trail Of Tears."" Juan is also a Marine-Regulation Navy Corpsman, a Fleet Marine Force ""Doc,"" that served between 1987 and 1997 who was deployed to Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1990-1991 with the 2nd Marines ground forces and was also part of the Special Marine Air Ground Task Force deployed to assist devastated Homestead, Florida for the Hurricane Andrew Relief in 1992. In that deployment, Juan was one of the specialized field medics and Spanish language translators for the 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.Juan currently Gourd Dances around the Lone Star State with a loose confederacy of Indigenous warriors from Central and South Texas, and also works as a Certified Public High School History Teacher and promotes poetry, as well as, Indigenous/Mexican/Mexican-American History when and where he can.To learn more about this award-winning poet, migrant field worker, combat vet, history teacher, and Native American Gourd Dancer.

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