Mexican Dinosaur by C.L. Rooster Martinez

The first full-length collection by San Antonio poet C.L. "Rooster" Martinez is now available!

About the collection

Mexican Dinosaur is a poetic offering from C.L. “Rooster” Martinez and Write About Now Publishing. The collection of poems is a metamodernist take on the changing economic demographics of his San Antonio barrio, the confusion and desire to flourish within a hyphenated American identity, and the force of gravity that the push and pull of culture from both sides of a Mexican/American ethnicity has. The collection was edited by Ayokunle Falomo and publication is slated for October 2023.

About the author

C.L. "Rooster" Martinez is an educator, writer and spoken word poet from San Antonio, Texas. He is the author of two poetry books: A Saint for Lost Things (Alabrava Press, 2020) and As it is in Heaven (Kissing Dynamite Poetry Press, 2020), as well as an upcoming kid’s book–Puro Galaxy Defender–through Juventude Press. His work has appeared in such publications as Huizache, Voices de la Luna, Write About Now Poetry, Button Poetry, The Huffington Post Latino Voices, Acentos Review, and others.  He was co-editor on Contra: Texas Poets Speak Out, a poetry anthology, and was a writer on the 2016 play, American Pride, which won two ATAC Globe awards for Writing of a Drama and Overall Production of a Drama, and was part of the team that took 3rd place at the 2017 National Poetry Slam Group Piece Competition. Rooster earned a MA/MFA in Creative Writing, Literature and Social Justice from Our Lady of the Lake University and teaches English at Palo Alto College.

What people are saying

C.L. "Rooster" Martinez's Mexican Dinosaur invites you into a clandestine understanding of the Mexican-American experience. Mexican Dinosaur shoves you into a chair and hands you a plate full of tender morsels and gusto. Welcome to the Carne Asada en la casa de la familia. Here, "Rooster" Martinez unapologetically builds out connections to contemporary ideas on Mejicanos; "we are born mid-stride - outrunning the clock, the hounds, the hours and overtime." This collection adds a bend and a breath into all things rasquache with dignity and light. Mexican Dinosaur cannot be ignored. This collection should be celebrated for reminding us that Mexican - Americans "don't act like anyone else's song." Punto. Final. 
- Lupe Mendez, 2022 Texas Poet Laureate