White Panties, Dead Friends

"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."

"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.

"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."

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