An Incomplete List of Names: Poems

by Michael Torres

An astonishing debut collection looking back on a community of Mexican American boys as they grapple with assimilation versus the impulse to create a world of their own.

Who do we belong to? This is the question Michael Torres ponders as he explores the roles that names, hometown, language, and others’ perceptions each play on our understanding of ourselves in An Incomplete List of Names . More than a boyhood ballad or a coming-of-age story, this collection illuminates the artist’s struggle to make sense of the disparate identities others have forced upon him.

His description of his childhood is both idyllic and nightmarish, sometimes veering between the two extremes, sometimes a surreal combination of both at once. He calls himself “the Pachuco’s grandson” or REMEK or Michael, depending on the context, and others follow his lead. He worries about losing his identification card, lest someone mistake his brown skin for evidence of a crime he never committed. He wonders what his students—imprisoned men who remind him of his high school friends and his own brother—make of him. He wonders how often his neighbors think about where he came from, if they ever do imagine where he came from.

When Torres returns to his hometown to find the layers of spray-painted evidence he and his boyhood friends left behind to prove their existence have been washed away by well-meaning municipal workers, he wonders how to collect a list of names that could match the eloquent truths those bubbled letters once secured.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Latinx

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2020

Reviews

[Eliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wicked good collection about living outside of categories, growing up and being baffled by how much you miss in the joy and crackle of explosive adolescence, and trying to account for all the many shards of experience that shape the self and determine the arc of what is to come.

Formally fresh, gritty, down-to-earth, but with some real crisp gems of lyrical heights. This is a fantastic first book and you should read it.

[Tyler Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who feels complicated about having left home, who feels complicated about masculinity and identity and what friendship means as it changes with time. These poems are specific, felt, lyrical and exciting to watch unfold.

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection consists of autobiographical free verse poetry. About forty poems describe Torres’s youth as a Latino graffiti artist, his adolescent experiences with his friends, and his adult years as he teaches in a prison. Questions of identity are a central theme in these poems. Having numerous group identities: ethnic minority, artist, scholar, and teacher, Torres explores how these facets fit together, and how they sometimes don’t.

Much of the work is simple prose, a direct telling of events, but frequent poetic flourishes shine through. The depth of insight into the author is the strength of this collection. He reveals his worldview with plain clarity. The collection offers touches of philosophical insight. It’s sometimes angry, but more often reflective.

This book is one of the five poetic works put out under the rubric of the National Poetry Series in 2019.

I enjoyed reading this collection and found the insights it offered to be interesting and evocatively framed.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his book, Michael Torres sees memories and walks around in it. Reflecting on identity, on homes, on names. “We name things because we don’t want them to vanish,” he writes. That list of names Torres provides us in incomplete, as the title suggests, but nonetheless are “a flowering of nights that once mattered and, so, still do.”

[Kristin Boldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems full of beautiful language that throb with the longing for identity, and the people, places, and things of the past. Gentle but true. Would be a good recommendation for someone who doesn't think they like poetry, because the narrative aspects are so strong.

[Ace Boggess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, personal, brilliant, beautiful.

[Jonathan Freeman-Coppadge · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You can spend your whole life unraveling," Michael Torres writes, but the poems in this collection feel like they spend most of their time "winding up" into miniclimaxes before Torres grants us release. "Even tempered glass is meant to shatter—just quietly." When these poems shatter, what lies underneath is tender without being soft. One has the sense that a lifetime has forged these poems, and perhaps a lifetime is required to fully appreciate them. There are poems here I know I would not have understood six months ago, and others I may not understand for some time to come. I look forward to returning to this collection over and over, ready to peel back another layer, ready to discover what lies under the next crack.

[Mariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Torres writes about home and identity, about the love and acceptance that comes from the homies, about young brown boys seeking to make a name and stake their claim in a world that deems them invisible. The rage and rebellion that courses through these boys' veins comes from the neglect and indifference they feel from society, and so they set out to love and care for one another. Brown boys are not lost, they are found.

[Jonathan O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book of poetry, though it is not in the exact style that I prefer and it is about the Mexican-American experience which is somewhat removed from my own identity. It was interesting to read about the author's experience mingling his identities, though, and that has applications for so many in this country. I would find another Mexican-American's comments on it very interesting. The author does have some catchy turns of phrase here and there and he lays out the poems in an interesting way graphically. I was privileged to meet him in person and was impressed by him as a person. He also did some readings and his driving, run-on style of reading really informed my own reading of his poems. The best poems to me are the "All-American Mexican" poems and "My Brother is Asking for Stamps" which is a poignant depiction of the experience of someone "inside" a correctional facility from a family member "outside". Overall, I think this a fine collection that explores personal transformation with a geographical move and secondly, a look at conflicting identities in today's America.

[Isaac Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very enjoyable. I am not a big reader, as I struggle to follow along, but I related to some of the poems. Specifically, "Mexican American", it was a really good poem that I was able to see myself in. It talked about the life of a Mexican-American boy like myself, who struggles to find himself. He talks about his grandfather being from Mexico but he had only visited as a tourist, not as someone trying to learn about his culture. I related to this because I may identify as Mexican but deep down I don't think I'm Mexican-enough. I found a lot of poems that reminded me of the life I've lived so far. Another one I related to was "Down I II". It spoke about a man never feeling like he's doing good enough. He talks about how he feels he is always failing everyone and struggles to make people proud. I felt as if this poem was written about me. Overall, this book was very good. It spoke very emotionally about many experiences that people have throughout life. A lot of the poems weren't similar which I appreciated.

[B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this one in a Goodreads Giveaway. This is a very powerfully written collection of poems that clearly convey the cultural challenges growing up in this manner. I had a great deal of friends in the neighborhood where I grew up whose experiences I saw manifest in the pages of Michael Torres' poems. It was a very moving book.

[Vivek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one grew on me as I moved through it. I’m beginning to appreciate more and more poetry collections where the author reveals pieces of themselves in a way that accumulates throughout the book. This was one of those: I had a hard time getting into it in the beginning, but was satisfied by the end.

[Nate LeBoutillier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top notch stuff by a real up-and-comer. Makes me wistful about my boyhood, my boyhood friends, my boyhood fragility/toughness, my boyhood dreams and hobbies, my family. Standout poems: "The Flame" and "Minutes, at the Health Clinic" and "My Brother Is Asking for Stamps" and "The Pachuko's Grandson Considers the Silversun Pickups' Album Diana Lent Him When They Last Spoke Seven Years Ago."

[Emilie Grand’Pierre · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lens into humanity

This collection of poems is beautiful. It will be the a staple in my home for years to come—each poem uncovers another piece of what it means to be a human, lost who cannot fit into all the boxes you are supposed to fill. Poems of transition, growth, and belonging it teaches as well as shares so much.

[Brad Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the way Torres explored race and masculinity in these poems. The contrast between stereotype and what is actually the life he lived, versus living up to said stereotypes, etc. While I still lack the patience and focus to really *get poetry, i think I’m getting there, and this collection had some seriously incredible images/cadences.

[Melanie Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS IS SO GOOD
If I knew poetry better, or read it more, I would be even more blown away? But I'm already so blown away? It's just great. Approachable and assured and impactful and important.
I'm looking forward to having sit with it long enough that I'll be craving reading it again.

[Ana María · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't read poetry anymore for a wide variety of reasons (primarily because it's too dangerous), so I held this one at arm's length... But it is every bit as amazing and wonderful as they say.

Read it.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, it’s full of a number of personal stories that are emotionally impactful to the reader.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorites were After Jose Clemente Orozco's Man of Fire and All-American Mexican.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.25
😁💯👍🏼

[Kaitlyn Caughfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful collection of poems.

[Rhiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars!

[Rebecca Hays · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt, specific. Vivid images. Beautiful sound read aloud.

[Jessika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Torres's poems on masculinity and the construction of masculinity are incredibly compelling. Overall, a really strong collection with stunning free verse.

[DeNae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how books can transport you to another place and introduce you to another way of life. This book of poetry did that for me.

[Nuha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, elusive and haunting like the names of the boys who grace the cover.

[Jose Felipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

yea it's good

[Jessica]

“We name things because we don’t want them / to vanish. Because we painted our names / over and over, certain limbs of Pomona healed / thick.”

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

It began quietly, crescendoed to an angry roar and then tempered to self-reflection. Excellent collection.

[Liam Dierschke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of poems about Chicano youth and a beautiful look into the preservation of culture vs the assimilation of a new one. I especially love his phrasing.