Poetry collection by Rich Villar. 

Villar is a writer born and raised in northern New Jersey. A longtime advocate for the Latino/a voice in U.S. letters, he has been quoted on Latino literature and culture by The New York Times and The Daily News. His work has been featured on NPR's "Latino USA" and in the journals Hanging Loose, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and Black Renaissance Noire, among others. He directs Acentos, a grassroots project fostering communities around Latino/a literature.

PRAISE for Comprehending Forever

In the spirit of Neruda, Comprehending Forever becomes that initial kiss we never forget accompanied by an aubade underneath a full moon. From collected raindrops off the skin, to the smells of Bustelo percolating at dawn, and bay of Luquillo, Villar reminds and redefines the essential beauty of why and how we need love. ~Luivette Resto, author of Unfinished Portrait and Ascension

Reading this book is like listening to those last few notes of an Al Green slow jam. Known widely for his ferocious and incisive political poems, here Villar turns his gaze toward the politics and pains of romantic love. In this debut collection, the battle rhymer turns soul singer. And damn if he doesn't work it out! ~John Murillo, author of Up Jump the Boogie

Rich Villar’s first book is a lyrical collection of love poems, and a great deal more. There are echoes here of Lorca and early Neruda, surreal, ecstatic, sensual, electrically charged. The poet not only praises his beloved; he celebrates the world around him, from Bustelo to the bossa nova, from the Triborough Bridge to Luquillo beach. The title poem is a tour de force, as Villar transcends a history of brutality and grief to find redemption and healing in the embrace of another human being. In the words of Whitman: This indeed is music!   

~Martín Espada, author of The Republic of Poetry