White Panties, Dead Friends

& Other Bits & Pieces of Love
By Bobby Byrd
Paperback: $13.95

“Byrd writes poems like a novelist. Epic ones. His lines are full of fiction, bullshit and beauty.”–E.Myles

Description

The book is divided into three sections of poems: White Panties, The Hospice Poems: In Memory of Steve Sprague, and Other Bits & Pieces of Love.

What Happened on My Front Porch
Last night Allen Ginsberg waved goodbye
forever. Several bees, a scorpion and a butterfly
joined him in his departure, although I didn’t
see them go off together. Their disappearance
was purely speculation. Before saying goodbye
Allen murmured that he doesn’t believe
in a world of things. Why should he?
The end has never been the end,
and the universe is an open field of play,
a way of breathing. Here we don’t know what
is going to happen one day to the next.
Except we will suffer. Except we will change.
Allen smiled and blessed me.
He doesn’t want to be bothered anymore.
He was wearing his beard long again.
He seemed very much at peace.
I was sober. The moon
navigated in and out among the clouds.
I listened to the trains on Montana Street whistling
and I could hear my neighbors two houses down
drinking beer and singing and chattering
about nothing. None of us will ever
know how wise we are. Inside
the house my wife was asleep,
she who for over 35 years has studied
the human geography of who I am.
Allen had tied his boat to the juniper tree–
a light boat, with short oars–he climbed
aboard and sailed off into the nowhere,
happy to have saved us all.

About the Creators

Bobby Byrd

Bobby Byrd was a beloved poet and publisher. He and his wife, Lee Byrd, cofounded Cinco Puntos Press in 1985 and published hundreds of award-winning books before selling the press to Lee & Low Books in 2021. The pair garnered many accolades, including Cultural Freedom Fellowships for Excellence in Publishing from the Lannan Foundation. Bobby was the author of nine adult poetry books, including The Price of Doing Business in Mexico (Cinco Puntos Press/Lee & Low Books). Bobby died in 2022.

Awards

  • Southwest Book Awards

    Border Regional Library Association

Reviews

  • "Bobby Byrd is the only poet I know whose work causes me to weep. This is not a metaphor. Tears well up in my eyes. True tears. True Tears come from the truth. Bigger than politics or games of money. Up from below where the black water sings. Spoken plainly. Life is real and never goes the way we expect. All of us get born, then go away. What shall we do in the meantime? Tears mean love. Cause no harm. Enjoy each other."

    - JB Bryan
  • "Publishing poetry is suicidal." At least, that's what someone told Bobby Byrd many years ago. Thankfully, that hasn't stop Byrd from writing it, and it hasn't stopped Cinco Puntos Press, his family business, from publishing his poetry, as well as some of the most important writing from the Texas-Mexico border. Byrd recently released his latest collection of poetry White Panties, Dead Friends, as well as a spoken word CD, How Will We Know When We're Dead.Byrd's poetry is a collection of conversations and arguments with Jesus and the devil, his dead mother and his old friends, Buddha and sometimes Mohammed, Dr. Atkins, as well as his wife of nearly 40 years, and of course her white panties. Most of all, Bryd's poetry speaks of his anger and outrage at the injustice and hypocrisy he sees in the world. The cruelty of death at God's hands, the brutality of war and the anger at the loss of friends slither through Byrd's words like a snake making itself known to its prey. His confusion between what he feels and what he sees forms the basis for the struggles evident in his work.

    - The Monitor
  • "I read it from cover to cover. It is beautiful. I forgot how much I missed reading his poetry...The words are great. They will move you."

    - Jim Ward, musician, What's Up Magazine
  • Panties and dead friends. I have always been drawn to poems that express with realness-language and attitude that cannot be captured by another poet. This collection White Panties, Dead Friends, and Other Bits & Pieces of Love by Bobby Byrd, poet, essayist and publisher of Cinco Puntos Press, has lines that linger, long after the book is closed and shelved.In the poem "A Visit from the Archangel Gabriel" (notes at the back reveal this is a found poem) is the line "she is addicted to seeing him die." The poem, about violence, living and dying in Serbia, is a strong representation of the found poem. The words "she is addicted to seeing him die" haunt the reader as we imagine the woman of poem watching her brother's death over and over. In my reading, the poem moves beyond the geography of Serbia and becomes the nightly news here, where tragedy and death are pounded to American viewers. The poem does not stop. It becomes so much more in each reader's mind. That is a gift.This is a collection of poems that don't reside in one place. It moves. The poems come in three lines, or "a very short novel" about the soul of Osama bin Laden. Byrd does not step quietly around what he witnesses on the planet-war, injustice, inequality. When you read this collection, you will hear his voice triggering your own understanding of this world, and what happens in it. What else can you want from poetry?– Kyes Stevens

    - Level Poetry

Paperback

  • ISBN 9780938317722
  • Publication Date Apr 01, 2006
  • Trim Size 9 × 6 × 0.4 in
  • Weight 0.4375 lbs
  • Page Count 112
  • Interests

  • Audience Adult
  • BISAC Category 1 POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Places
  • BISAC Category 2 POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Inspirational & Religious
  • BISAC Category 3 POETRY / American / General
  • Themes Nonfiction, Poetry
  • Reading Levels

  • Guided Reading Adult
  • Interest Level Adult
  • Reading Level Adult
  • This Book is Included in These Collections:

    • 23
      Adult Fiction
      Collection of 23 books: $362.95

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