Cabeza de Vaca: an Epic Poem

I am proud to have edited Peter Rabbit’s first posthumous publication, put out by Crescent Press in 2019, and will be holding book signings for it throughout the year in the Southwest. Here is some information on it.

This galloping, hybrid poem presents readers with a gutsy new take on the indigenous source of conquistador Álvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's skill as a healer. Sprinkled throughout with humor and aphoristic wisdom, the tale is told in the voices of six characters, including that of the author himself. In a tone reflective of the New American style of his peers Olson and Dorn−or perhaps of jazz poet Lord Buckley− the book presents historic and transcendent truths relevant to today's world.

Poet Peter Rabbit has uncovered in C. de Vaca's peripatetic adventure the kernel of the enlightened and loving philosophy that put him at odds with the 16th century rulers of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Informed by the author's personal relationship with the handful of psychedelic gurus leading the underground drug revolution of the '60s, as well as by decades of expertise as a respected peyote road man and years of labor in high altitude farming that included development of a potent strain of cannabis indica, the work presents both the factual and the imaginary, disquisition and dialogue, peroration and prayer. A lapsed Catholic and a dedicated mystic, Mr. Rabbit devoted the last years of his life to completing this poem.