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""Ceasar K. Avelar swings a Central American hammer in poems that sing the working life while also decrying the gaps and empties. He's a powerful voice from the Central American migrant stream essential to the 'essential workers' risking life and family to keep economies going, even in pandemics.""​-Luis J. Rodriguez, former Los Angeles' Poet Laureate, author of Borrowed Bones: New Poems from the Poet Laureate of Los Angeles​""When the particles settle, Cesar K. Avelar will go down as one of the greatest working-class poets of our time.""​-William A. Gonzalez, award winning author of Black Bubblegum​""Ceasar Avelar writes for the people in the trenches, for the marginalized, for those who sometimes feel as though they have no voice. The power of his words jump from the page. He is not writing to impress, he is writing to inspire.""​-Jeffery Martin, author of Ripples, Shadows & Huddled Scraps​""Ceasar K. Avelar's poetry is exquisite, fierce and courageous. A harrowing denunciation of the exploitation endured by today's immigrant factory workers, but more importantly, a testament of the worker's indomitable spirit to subvert their dehumanization while dreaming and asserting the possibility of a life of respect and hope."" -Angelina Sáenz, Author of Edgecliff

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9781088109892

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Ceasar K. Avelar is the second poet laureate of Pomona, CA. As a poet, Ceasar is dedicated to the working class. His poems speak the truth, not only to people in a position of power, but also to the everyday person that views the working class as a stigmatized identity. Ceasar is of Central American descent. His mother is an immigrant from Honduras and his father is from El Salvador. Ceasar's poems tell the stories of workers of color, their families and the obstacles they face in the United States; not just as workers, but as immigrants living in a country where their existence is commodified. Ceasar is the resident poet for Café con Libros Press, a cultural center and bookstore. He runs Obsidian Tongues open mic, which strives to bring poetry, art, and free expression to the community of Pomona. David A. Romero is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press), a book reviewed by Gustavo Arellano (¡Ask a Mexican!), Curtis Marez (University Babylon), and founding member of Ozomatli, Ulises Bella. Romero has received honorariums from nearly a hundred colleges and universities in thirty-four different states in the USA and has performed live in Mexico, Italy, and France. Romero's work has been published in literary magazines in the United States, Mexico, England, Scotland, and Canada. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning bands Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia. Romero's work has been published in anthologies alongside poets laureate Joy Harjo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Luis J. Rodriguez, Jack Hirschman, and Tongo Eisen-Martin. Romero has won the Uptown Slam at the historic Green Mill in Chicago; the birthplace of slam poetry. Romero offers a scholarship for high school seniors interested in spoken word and social justice: ""The Romero Scholarship for Excellence in Spoken Word."" Lee Ballinger is the West Coast Editor of Rock & Rap Confidential, the magazine edited by Dave Marsh that's known as ""the conscience of the music industry."" Ballinger is a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame voter and certified welder, a combat veteran of Vietnam who came out of the steel mills in Ohio to forge a career as a writer. He has written four books and his work has appeared in publications ranging from the The New York Times to the Village Voice, from Entertainment Weekly to Inside Sports to Rolling Stone. Lee Ballinger was once a homeless teenager yet he went on to be a local leader of the steelworkers union and wound up introducing Kurt Vonnegut at a Chicago banquet. A well-known performer on the Southern California poetry scene, he has worked as a media advisor to pro football players and was a publicist for the anti-apartheid Sun City record which featured musicians ranging from Miles Davis to Ringo Starr to Run DMC.

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