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“Rain Minnows [notecards and poems]” is the second book of poetry by Joshua Bridgwater Hamilton. this post-strucuralist manuscript explores the interplay of meaning between words as he deconstructs the language. the poems within often began as notecards, forcing the poet to observe the taut space of meaning without devolving into narrative.
another happy moment came when artistLeticia R Bajuyojoined this project. an interdisciplinary artist, object maker, and sculptor, her artworks have been exhibited nationally. the cover art she created alludes to the rain as the minnows float in the air, a nod to the experimental and unconventional nature of the poems inside.
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Praise for “Rain Minnows [notecards and poems]”
The tactile sting of these poems startles us from our too-hurried, numb existences; for those who can never find a unique sentiment, the notecards are gifts their recipients will cherish in nightstand drawers for years to come
Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Editor, 34 Orchard Literary Journal
Joshua Hamilton’s chapbook Rain Minnows floods the reader’s mind with surreal imagery both past and present, dreamy rhythms of the ocean’s arpeggio, and striking juxtapositions that rouse the senses to the “electric hollow of awakening.” This is poetry at its finest: at once teeming with emotion and masterfully crafted. Reminiscent of Lorca, these poems drip with duende and invite readers to dive into their depths time and time again.
Katherine ho*rth, Editor, Lamar University Literary Press
In "Rain Minnows," we get a dreamy underwater world with flashes of surrealism like silver fish. Hamilton’s poetry-scape is populated by “lava touchscreens and action figures,” and a “corset woven into bone chest sink." It’s a place “where Grandma’s Baptist ghost sparks out.” The imagery in these poems is like that of an electric eel’s—both startling and illuminating. This chapbook is worth buying just for the poem “[D]ream Song for Humber Humbert: Sentimental Bicycle.” Throughout this collection, I sensed Hamilton as a conductor of sounds: roaring, crescendoing, and echoing, a real delight to read and to read aloud.
Sarah K Lenz, The Writer's Studio, English Instructor at Del Mar College
Meet the Author
Joshua Hamiltonis a Louisville, KY native who migrated to Corpus Christi with his family: artist Leticia Bajuyo, daughter, and their rickety but sweet cat, Walnut. Between Kentucky and Texas, he prowled the halls of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, hitchhiked in the west of Ireland, kayaked Appalachian rivers, and sweltered in the tropical heat of Panama City, Panamá. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in English and Humanities and his Master’s Degree in Spanish from the University of Louisville, and in 2013 he completed his doctorate in Spanish (with a minor in American Literature) with Indiana University. Joshua’s field of research focuses on Visual Poetry from the late Franco dictatorship (1960s – 1970s). He chapbook,Slow Wind,was published with Finishing Line Press.
