My Kill Adore Him

Paul Martínez Pompa

Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize

My Kill Adore Him is a collection of poems from Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize-winner Paul Martínez Pompa. The book’s title is a homophonic translation of the Spanish word maquiladora, which translates into English as “factory” or “sweatshop.” With a unique, independent voice, Martínez Pompa interrogates masculinity, race, language, consumerism, and cultural identity in poems that honor los olvidados, the forgotten ones, who range from the usual suspects brutalized by police to factory workers poisoned by their environment, from the victim of a homophobic beating in the boys’ bathroom to the body of Juan Doe at the Cook County Coroner’s Office. Some of the poems rely on somber, at times brutal, imagery to articulate a political stance while others use sarcasm and irony to deconstruct political stances themselves.

Paul Martínez Pompa teaches composition and creative writing at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois. His chapbook, Pepper Spray, was published in 2006.

“This is one tough, smart poet. The poems of Paul Martínez Pompa are gritty and visceral, but never cross the line into sensationalism. They are poems that vividly evoke the urban world, especially Chicago, without ever lapsing into urban cliché. They are poems that seek justice for the Latino community without ever resorting to the overheated language that all too often consigns poetry of social conscience to oblivion.” — Martín Espada, 2008 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize judge

Reviews

”. . . My Kill Adore Him is an exciting and tough collection of very well-composed and accessible poems. It’s been a while since I tore through a book of poetry and really enjoyed the read. . . .” — Harriet, a Poetry Foundation blog