The Living Poetry Project 25: Skate Fate
Best book of the year: Skatefate by Juan Felipe Herrera.
I love this book—no—I believe in this book. The foster kid, Lucky, who tells his story of loss and recovery has the power of a non-violent protest in his rhythmic responses to middle school life. LIVE, the persona Lucky tells his readers, LIVE.
It is a voice like Lucky who will sing our broken-footed community into hope and dance. For this reason, I ordered ten copies of Skatefate to give to local skaters. In my attempt to find skaters, I heard about a local art show focused on skateboards. Local skaters were invited by the amazing Larissa Nickel to skateboard around the gallery (to be living art). I copied sections of the book onto postcards to hand out to the participants. I asked those who I gave copies of the book to write me with there response to this poetry-novel-song book–I’ll be excited to post their responses in the comment boxes soon.
Skatefate is a must must must read—a must share.
Great thanks to Juan Felipe for writing a book that opens the heart as wide as song.
