Rodney Gomez: “‘Enoch’ started out as a short story about lost friends. The main character spends his time imagining wondrous things for the friends he knew in childhood, but resists the urge to look them up on social media or the web. I abandoned the story, but kept the idea of loss and friendship in this poem.” (web)
Rodney Gomez: “I’ve been working as an urban planner in local government for many years, specializing in public transit issues, especially mobility and accessibility. Recently, I moved into a management position at a new university—The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where I direct the parking and transportation program. I’ve loved buses and public transportation since I was a child—we were very poor, and our family of nine would use the bus to get everywhere. My poetry and career stem from many of the same concerns with family, place, and social justice. They tackle many of the same issues; the difference, of course, is in the method. I’ve confronted intractable problems at work that seem to have solutions in lines of poetry. But poetry can’t be used in a grant application, a survey, or a planning study. We are all worse off for that.” (twitter)