"Imagining the ideal barrio means imagining a better world for everyone in Donato Martinez's new book of poems, Ten Toes in the Earth. The overtime that this poeta: full-time teacher and father, puts in brings the barrio together to share the happiness of the pachanga or the carne asada. Work is not work if you love what you do. Donato loves his gente. Even their heartbreak is celebrated by imagining a Mexican Statue of Liberty where all the Mexicans can lay their pain down and celebrate their hard-earned struggle. Heaven is full of mangos and compas selling tacos on the side of freeway - "but all the compas live in mansions." You have to imagine it first to create and realize it. And Donato's imagination is free and firme like a Sunday cruise."
-Paul S. Flores, HBO Def Poet, author of We Still Be: Poems and Performances, 2024 American Book Award winner
"Resurrected Tupac, Vicks VapoRub and sweet mangos are a few of the many saviors Martinez calls forth to rescue a grief-stricken world. These poems demonstrate how imagination becomes a vehicle for hope without borders. The people living in this collection include truck-driving t�as, ghost children, landscaping fathers, and women who buy themselves flowers. They are not merely survivors, but celebrated working-class heroes. These poems are constantly desiring, calling for change, and wanting justice for so many loved ones."
-Karla Cordero, author of How to Pull Apart the Earth
"You will see your family in these poems, your culture, your crazy tias, the hardened men now crying, you will taste the mango dripping, see the tortillas de harina rising on the comal. Professor Donato Martinez - veterano professor of English literature and master storyteller - is a Chicano bard for these turbulent times. There is an aching in each line. A longing to return to the simplicity of childhood and the pulsing adventures of youth. These poems are ode to our barrios, our familias, our cultura, la raza. Read these poems out loud, around fires, in classrooms, and even in the halls of Congress. Orale! Atenci�n! Make way for the Chicano Bard, Donato Martinez! In Ten Toes in the Earth, the work is unyielding - while the coraz�n is tender and vulnerable. Our hardworking familias, our migrant siblings, and aging elders are the true heroes of these poems. These poems will ground you."
-Brenda Vaca, author of Riot of Roses and publisher of Riot of Roses Publishing House
Martinez, Donato: - Donato Martinez was born in in small pueblo, Garcia de la Cadena, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated into the USA at six years old. He teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College. He has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. He has been a co-coordinator of the Puente Program for 25 years. He hosts and curates many artistic events that feature poetry and music at his campus or in the community. He is also a poet and writes about his barrio experience, his community, his Chicano culture, bilingual identities, and other complexities of life. He is influenced by the sounds and pulse of the streets, people, music, and the magic of language. He has a self-published collection with three other Inland Empire poets, Tacos de Lengua. His work has been published by City Works, East Side Rose, The Acentos Review, San Diego Poetry Annual, Ofrenda Magazine, The Mixtape Literary Journal, Latin@ Literatures, and La Raiz Magazine. He loves the outdoors and is inspired by books, music, and his children, Gabriel and Abigail. His debut poetry collection Touch the Sky was released by El Martillo Press in 2023.
Romero, David A.: - David A. Romero is a Mexican-American poet, novelist, and publisher from Diamond Bar, CA. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of El Martillo Press. Romero is the author of the novel The Enemy Sleeps (El Martillo Press, 2026) and the books of poetry My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press, 2020) and Diamond Bars 2 (Moon Tide Press, 2024). Romero has received honorariums from nearly a hundred colleges and universities in thirty-four different states in the USA and has also performed live in Mexico, Italy, and France. His poem, "You Were Born a Tree" was sent to the Moon by NASA in 2025 as part of the Lunar Codex. Romero's work has been published in literary magazines and anthologies in the United States, Mexico, England, Scotland, Cuba, Canada, and Hungary. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning bands Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia. Romero's work has been published in anthologies alongside poets laureate Joy Harjo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Luis J. Rodriguez, Jack Hirschman, and Tongo Eisen-Martin. Romero has won the Uptown Slam at the historic Green Mill in Chicago; the birthplace of slam poetry. Romero's poetry deals with family, identity, social justice issues, and Latine culture.
