Poems Upcoming in Red River Review
My poems “Craft,” “Dark Blot,” and “Making a Man” have been accepted for publication in the November 2013 edition of Red River Review.
Creature Feature: The Devil at Boccaccio 2000
Ramping up to Halloween, The Monitor is printing a nine-part series entitled “Creature Feature.” Published each Thursday, this column features my retellings of creepy tales of ghosts, ghouls and cucuys from deep South Texas, with illustrations by a variety of local artists. The second of the stories, featuring art by the…
Poems Upcoming in Illya’s Honey
My poems “Rhyme Ran to Rap” and “These Hands” will be appearing in the fall/winter edition of Illya’s Honey, the journal of the Dallas Poets Community. Links to come!
Creature Feature launches
Starting September 5, 2013, and running through Halloween, The Monitor will be printing a nine-part series entitled “Creature Feature.” Published each Thursday, this column will feature my retellings of creepy tales of ghosts, ghouls and cucuys from deep South Texas, with illustrations by a variety of local artists. The first…
Creature Feature
Beginning September 5 and continuing through Halloween, The Monitor will be running my nine-part series Creature Feature. Published each Thursday, this series will feature creepy tales of ghosts, ghouls and cucuys from deep south Texas, each accompanied by the illustrations of artists like Xavier Garza. I will be posting links…
Flower, Song, Dance Released!
Yesterday, Lamar University Press released my latest book, Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry. I’d like to express my gratitude to the many people who helped get this project off the ground, especially my editor, Jerry Craven, and the two artists whose work makes the book an even richer…
Advance Praise for Flower, Song, Dance
At last! A translation of Aztec poetry done not by an historian, a linguist or an anthropologist, but by a poet. In this volume, David Bowles captures the heart and the soul of the Nahua poets, and carries them safely across the narrow bridge swinging far above the perilous waters…
A Mexica Woman Addresses Her New Son-in-Law
Here you stand, Our eagle, our jaguar— A jewel for this family, Quetzal-feather, Beloved son. May you never take this union lightly. Already it has become Your world, Your nature— Your life is wholly different now. No longer will your heart Be burdened by vice, For you have abandoned The…
“The Spirit of the Japanese” by Motoori Norinaga
Motoori Norinaga was a Japanese scholar and poet in the 16th century who emphasized mono no aware or “the pathos of things” in his literary philosophy, insisting on the role of empathy in life and in composition. The following waka is one of his most famous poems: it was usurped…
A Poetic and Musical Celebration of Aztec Culture
On September 21, 2013 I will be the featured artist for Flower, Song, Dance: A Poetic and Musical Celebration of Aztec Culture. I will read from my newly published translations of Aztec verse against the backdrop of Dr. Carl Seale’s Toxcatl, a ballet inspired by the celebration of the fifth…