“Returning to these poems, some of which I’ve known for a couple of years, I’m struck once again by the entirely new, fluidly synthesized world they create on the page as well as by the intoxicating sounds, sometimes Dylan Thomas-like, they offer the ear. I know that other poets out there mix discourses—in fact it’s become a familiar postmodern strategy—but what Derrick Fernando does is more than mix. He purees discourses. And he does it with such alacrity, such depth, such joy in the sounds and shades of words that the effect is infectious. (Once you’ve read these poems you’ll see that I just stole one of his licks, something you can’t help but do after spending time with these rhyming delicacies.) How many spoken word artists reference theories of lyric poetry in their work, or 19th century novels, or Ezra Pound? If they do, how many do it seamlessly and unapologetically? How many non-spoken word poets do? I would guess that none other than Derrick Fernando, an exciting new poet debuting here in this marvelous chapbook, exhibit such skill in their mixing.”
—from the Foreward by Gail Wronsky, editor, Clockwise Chapbook Series
