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Review :: “Leaving” by Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

Borracho [Very Drunk] Love Poems & Other Acts of Madness by Jesus Papoleto Melendez book cover image

Guest Post by Jennifer Grotzinger

“Leaving” by Jesús Papoleto Meléndez comes from his poetry collection, Borracho [Very Drunk]: Love Poems & Other Acts of Madness, first published in 2020 by 2Life Press and now available to read on the Poetry Foundation website. If you are a sucker for love poems, “Leaving” will take you down a path to feel the hurt and the emotions from the point of view of the significant other. It starts, “The storm came.” Meaning a fight just happened or an argument just occurred. The speaker goes into how they saw it coming, the tension was building, “We had already felt / the tremor / of its warning. . . ” It was there, and at any time, it was going to explode, it was just a matter of when. When it did explode, the partner realized that no fight is worth losing someone you love and care about. However, the end is what made me sympathize with the speaker: “But you walked out, / To meet the wind / & the rain / intotheStorm / without me.” It makes my heart break a little to feel the hurt when the speaker realizes that they just lost someone they truly love and care about. That they are never coming back. This poem is short, yet it speaks so loudly.

“Leaving” by Jesús Papoleto Meléndezcomes. Poetry Foundation, reprinted by permission of 2LeafPress, 2020.

Reviewer bio: Jennifer Grotzinger is a student in an intro to poetry class. Her Instagram handle is @jenniferrodd_

Events :: Poetry Foundation Library

Maya Marshall poet head shot Poetry Foundation Library

You don’t need to live in New York to take advantage of the many free events offered by the Poetry Foundation Library. Their calendar is peppered with community activities that include in-person with a virtual option as well as virtual-only events. Events like a Book Club with small group discussion online, moderated by library staff, with all participants residing in the U.S. offered a complimentary copy of the book; Forms & Features, which is billed as “part discussion, part poetry workshop,” online monthly series; and numerous Readings and Lectures, Screenings, and Performances.

The two upcoming Book Clubs are All the Blood Involved in Love by Maya Marshall [pictured] on September 30 and Somebody Else Sold the World by Adrian Matejka on October 21. Participants are welcome to sign up for one but not both club events. Closed captioning is available via Google Meet and an ASL interpreter will be provided upon request.