whose really blues

<p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>As it steps from the stage to the page the poetry of Q.R. Hand never stops testifying. That the poet has led and continues to lead a full life in a real world crammed with real ignorance as well as actual light these trembling pages make clear. In the title poem of this exciting collection the poet asks a question: how do we know the real robert johnson /</p><p class=ql-align-justify>met the real devil at the real cross roads / just 'cause he says so and his blues intone scripture for the 21st century. Like a Mobius strip but also like a DNA strand Q's heaven and hell twist and stick and wrap them­selves around another: a cool but sweaty doo-wop dance pair coupled to outlast the night. The poems in this book - as they whisk and yank and ease you through that certain place at / that certain time - speak directly to the body that houses heart mind and soul. As they eyeball human cruelty greed delusion and color prejudice dogma of any stripe (campus or street-triggered) poverty social injustice science and social philosophy time as history and time as time personal geography (Brook­lyn Harlem Oakland San Francisco Bay) love's unchartable behavior and misbehavior - these tough caring wayward poems take it all and everything. Forever at play in the fields of the word Q.R. Hand is a homegrown American original. Place this book to your ear and hear: All those beautiful fine / all those fine / all those who spread their love along the line / that stretches through heart beat and heart ache.</p><p class=ql-align-right><em>-Al Young</em></p><p class=ql-align-right><em>Poet Laureate of California</em></p><p><br></p>