Furious Dusk
By David Campos
5/5
()
About this ebook
Rhina P. Espaillat, judge of the 2014 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, describes Furious Dusk, David Campos’s winning collection, as "a work whose five parts trace a son’s efforts—only partially successful—to fulfill his father’s expectations and—perhaps even more difficult—understand those expectations enough to forgive them.” The poet's reflections are catalyzed by learning of his father’s impending death, which, in turn, forces him to examine his father’s expectations against his own evolving concept of what it means to be a man.
The poems' speaker sifts through his past to find the speckles of memory that highlight the pressures to fit the mold of masculinity forged both by the Mexican culture of his father and the American culture he inhabits. The problematic norms of both rip the speaker in two directions as he recounts his father’s severe parenting, as he explores the inability to father a child, as he witnesses human suffering, as he overeats and confronts the effects on his body, and, finally, as he realizes what it means to transcend these expectations. The speaker’s epiphany frees him to reject masculine stereotypes and allows him to see himself simply as a human being. That realization, in turn, enables the speaker to see his father not only as “father,” “husband,” and “man,” but as a citizen of Earth.
Through Campos’s bold imagery and accessible language and themes, he memorably adds to the continuing conversation of the effects of cultural expectations on the children of immigrant parents.
David Campos
David Campos is the son of Mexican immigrants, a CantoMundo fellow, and the author of Furious Dusk (University of Notre Dame Press, 2015) which won the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. His poems and other work have appeared in Prairie Schooner, the American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, and Queen Mob's Teahouse among many others. He teaches English at Fresno City College. For more information, visit his website at www.davidcampos.co.
Read more from David Campos
American Quasar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Furious Dusk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Furious Dusk
Related ebooks
Wonder City Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hive Queen: The Bond Trilogy, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Clonfert House Chronicles Part 1: The Enchanters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEclipse 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Half the Day Is Night Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Beggars in Spain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe House of Discarded Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sideshow: A Novelette Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blood of Angels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNow You Know It All Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Joanna Godden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At Home in the World: Women Writers and Public Life, from Austen to the Present Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllaigna's Song: Aria Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChange Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House Uptown: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Nightmare Box and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExtinction Theory: Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTailings: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spontaneous Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Aerial Letter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Listen & Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVicious: The Vivid Trilogy, #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blackberry Heaven: a Novel in Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Merchants of Souls Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bliss, and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDown Among the Fishes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Borderlands and Crossroads: Writing the Motherland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDay of the Moon, The Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Hispanic & Latino Fiction For You
First Spanish Reader: A Beginner's Dual-Language Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bird Hotel: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spanish Stories/Cuentos Espanoles: A Dual-Language Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of Women and Salt: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tender Is the Flesh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of the Spirits: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Olga Dies Dreaming: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote of La Mancha Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Dominicana: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mestiza Blood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We the Animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Across a Hundred Mountains: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Infinite Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Puro Amor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5L.A. Weather: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Faraway World: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Malinche: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Alburquerque: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Spanish Daughter: A Gripping Historical Novel Perfect for Book Clubs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What the Hex: A Paranormal Rom-Com Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House on the Lagoon: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loving Che Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ghost Radio: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jemez Spring Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Spy in the Struggle: A Riveting Must-Read Novel of Suspense Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Queen of the Cicadas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sinner: Santa Muerte, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrinity Sight: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Furious Dusk
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Furious Dusk - David Campos
THE ANDRÉS MONTOYA POETRY PRIZE
2004, Pity the Drowned Horses, Sheryl Luna
Final Judge: Robert Vasquez
2006, The Outer Bands, Gabriel Gomez
Final Judge: Valerie Martínez
2008, My Kill Adore Him, Paul Martínez Pompa
Final Judge: Martín Espada
2010, Tropicalia, Emma Trelles
Final Judge: Silvia Curbelo
2012, A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying, Laurie Ann Guerrero
Final Judge: Francisco X. Alarcón
2014, Furious Dusk, David Campos
Final Judge: Rhina P. Espaillat
The Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, named after the late California native and author of the award-winning book, The Iceworker Sings, supports the publication of a first book by a Latino or Latina poet. Awarded every other year, the prize is administered by Letras Latinas—the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
FURIOUS DUSK
DAVID CAMPOS
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana
Copyright © 2015 by David Campos
Published by the University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
e-ISBN: 978-0-268-07705-1
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [email protected]
For my parents
And for my wife
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Poems by Rhina P. Espaillat
I
Hunting
Fourth-Grade Lunch
Lion’s Den
Cast Iron
To Sing
Soccer Practice
Drywall Dust
The Call
II
After One Year of Trying
Washing Dishes
Inheritance
Prayer
Hollywood Endings
Museum of Natural History
Skin
Need
III
Designated Driver
I Make My First Delivery
At the Entrance of a Back Alley
Monster
Molting
A Wage-Claim Conference in Fresno
At the Unemployment Office
Wash
Fences
IV
Thirst
Lizard Blood
Stones
Diet
330-Pound Man Exercises
Bowl
Pica
The Measuring Tape of a Dressmaker
Last Words
The Stones from the Water
V
After Hearing of My Father’s Passing
Ars Poetica
Where the Sirens Go
Open Letter
The Language of Masa
I Left You a Note
Addressing a Letter to My Father
Birthday Dinner
He Holds Out His Hands
Lost Letter to Kees
Dusk
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the editors of the following magazines and journals where the following poems, and earlier versions of them, including under different titles, have appeared:
Drywall Dust
and He Holds Out His Hands
have appeared in The American Poetry Review.
After Hearing of My Father’s Passing
has appeared in Boxcar Poetry Review.
Cast Iron
and Where the Sirens Go
have appeared in Connotation Press.
After One Year of Trying
and Dusk
have appeared in Huizache.
I Make My First Delivery
has appeared in In the Grove.
Lost Letter to Kees,
Pica,
Fences,
Lizard Blood, and
Addressing a Letter to My Father" have appeared in Miramar.
Need
and Thirst
have appeared in Mosaic.
Hunting
and Fourth-Grade Lunch
have appeared in Oranges & Sardines.
Bowl
has appeared in The Packinghouse Review.
Birthday Dinner
has appeared in