Gary Soto's What Poets Are Like is a commonplace book filled with proverbial wisdom. The prolific Mexican-American poet and children's author describes these prose pieces as having "the mystery of poetry--brief, imagistic, true, reflective, and individually mine."
Soto's was a hardscrabble youth, his education hard-won, and these pieces frequently refer to his past. Some deal with migrant workers and Cesar Chavez, a "flag in my heart." Many deal with his poetry and his struggle for success, even though he has been a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. There's a group of "At Home With" pieces, featuring Kurt Vonnegut, Samuel Pepys (whom Soto loves), Harold Bloom (whom he hates) and George W. Bush. Soto recounts an invitation to the National Book Festival where he sits at a card table in the Smithsonian Institution to sign with other authors--only his publisher didn't send books; next to him sits David McCullough, swamped by people and sales. The piece on the rise and fall of Cody's Books in Berkeley, Calif., is prophetic. A scheduled author reads at the now-shuttered store anyway, holding court on the sidewalk.
What Poets Are Like is best thumbed through, stopping at titles that intrigue (Here's What I Think, Book Titles, Book Signings, Flat Tire, The FBI, Aging Poet). It's easy-going, episodic and--at a mass market size bound in hardcover--a pleasure to hold. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher