Gold That Frames the Mirror

by Brandon Melendez

Overview

In Brandon Melendez's debut poetry collection,  Gold That Frames the Mirror , nothing sung can truly be lost. 
Captivating musings spanning heritage, family, grief, music, and mental illness, these poems embark on a profound quest to unravel the meaning of home, even when the answers seem too painfully vivid to confront. 
However, do not misinterpret Melendez as a poet of simple sorrow; even amidst profound loss, he infuses his verses with the potential for wonder and delight, revealing enduring resilience. 
In this collection, emotions swirl and entwine, inviting readers to explore the complexities of life, and ultimately, find solace in the glimmers of hope and joy that persist amidst the darkness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938912870
Publisher:	Write Bloody Publishing
Publication date:	04/01/2019
Edition description:	First edition
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Brandon Melendez is a Mexican-American poet and software engineer from California. He is the author of Gold That Frames The Mirror (Write Bloody, 2019). He is a National Poetry Slam finalist and two-time Berkeley Grand Slam Champion. A recipient of the 2018 Djanikian Scholarship from The Adroit Journal, and the 2018 Academy of American Poets Award, his poems can be found in Black Warrior Review, Muzzle Magazine, Ninth Letter and elsewhere. He currently lives in Philadelphia and has an MFA from Emerson College.

Table of Contents

Synonyms for Border 15

In a City Old as Smallpox in a Peroxide White Room, My Therapist Asks a Question about Coping 16

Desmadre 18

Architecture of Refuge 19

That Time I Went North & Woke Up with a New Face 21

Dry/spell 23

Portrait of Grief as a Manicured Lawn 24

Shouts to Scene Kids 25

Etymology of Absence, Ending in My Grandmother Singing "México en la Piel" 27

Line/age 29

Origin :: predisposition 33

Los Fantasmas, or if You've Seen Coco You'll Understand Why I Didn't Stop Crying for a Week After 34

Glass Pulled from the Wreckage Like a Body Still Breathing 35

The Author Becomes a Moirologist 36

In the Story, the Role of Ahab Is Played by My Father 37

In Defense of Hella 38

The First Time I See My Father Cry Fie is Pulling Me from the Water to Unsing Alcoholism 41

As Respite from Insomnia, the Author Writes an Elegy for What the Night Took 43

Alprazolam 44

Conjuring 45

Ethos of ICE 49

Lupus 50

I Watch the Family Move into the House at the End of the Block 51

American Boy Shares Death Metal with His Abuelo 53

Portrait of anxiety as liminal space 55

Raw, or My Therapist Asks Me to Describe the Feeling without Using "I" Statements 56

Every Time I Sec My Ex, Shit Gets Kafkaesque 57

Reino, or I See My Grandfather by the Side of the Road, about Where He's Buried, but He's Wandering around with a Flag of Vertebrae 58

Taphephobia, the Morning after I Team Chester Bennington Took His Own Life 61

Blood Pageantry 63

Serpent crown lined with marrow 67

Theorem with Staircase 8c Hummingbird 77

I Feel Most Like Myself with Painted Nails 79

Field Notes on Desire 81

Etymology of Absence, Ending in a Still Life of the Rio Grande at Sunset 85

Standing at the Mirror, the Author Writes a Poem for Himself in Which the Word Hate Is Replaced with the Word Forgive 87

How to Write Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle into a Promise to Return Home 89

Eventide Interrupted by Phlebotomy & a Coyote's Howl 91

Universe Ending (in Gratitude) 93

Editorial Reviews

"Gold That Frames the Mirror is an avalanche of sonic pleasure, pulsing with imagery and excitement along its narratives. Bursting with anaphora and nostalgia. Brandon Melendez is a poet who both asks and answers, with poise and lyricism. This book was a thrill, each poem opening with a gasp-worthy line ('my first memory / is an open gate') What luck, to be alive at the same time as this book's unfolding." —Hanif Abdurraqib, author of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us and Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest  "Gold That Frames the Mirror is a sacred surprise. Melendez carefully crafts lines that hold an ancestor at each of its break. The book is both breath-taking and breath-giving, the way each poem allows the reader to relish in what we didn't know we needed."—Porsha Olayiwola, Poet Laureate of Boston "Our speaker, while naming trauma at the intersection of Latinx heritage, masculinity, and mental health, refuses to drown in it. Here, every syllable carries the weight of a lineage and all the ghosts trapped therein; here, the ghosts are granted permission to sing." —George Abraham, author of Birthright and the specimen’s apology

From the Publisher