The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon: Poems

Summary

THROUGH SONGS of ALTERNATE TAKES and TEMPOS and a melody crackling with vitality and dynamism, in language symphonic and colloquial, we follow the percussionist of a ’70s descarga band, Shorty Bon Bon, on a reimagined journey of self-discovery. In this compelling third book, award-winning poet Willie Perdomo rebuilds the landscape of Shorty’s life from his apprenticeship, love, a move to the diaspora, and, ultimately, his death. Replete with classical tropes and touches of noir, Shorty Bon Bon plays a surreal gig that, it turns out, is his own requiem.

“Willie Perdomo’s lines are ritualistic codes whose speaking is likely to summon the saints or ‘whistle evil out of [your] garden.’ If your ears, feet, and heart have not been initiated yet into the myth-making genius, sly observances, hip-speak, and erudition of this poet’s pen then The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon is your body’s reparation and reconciliation act, your own bomb-diggity.”—Major Jackson, author of Holding Company