{"product_id":"martinez-john-paul-alternativpb","title":"Martinez, John Paul: Alternatives for Succulents","description":"\u003cp\u003eBull City Press, chapbook\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublication Date: July 14, 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublisher Marketing:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlternatives for Succulents\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ebends through the varied landscapes of longing, distance, sorrow, and self-discovery. Sprawling from the rural soil of Wisconsin to the unreachable pockets of space, these formally adventurous poems sift through what it means to want, to lose, and to remain tender. Like wind over an open field, they sprawl with breath. John Paul Martinez’s lush, aching debut is a book for the heart that breaks open and still blooms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlternatives for Succulents\u003c\/em\u003e, John Paul Martinez presses a palm to the ancient microphone and asks the oldest, most unshakable questions:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWho am I? What am I doing here?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThe poems hover between gravity and flight—tethered to earth, yet always reaching for what flowers at the edge of knowing. Martinez weaves poems ripe with fruit, frozen hummingbirds, and splitting clouds, fracturing forms into pillars of longing, doubt, and quiet wonder. ‘I’m \/ still accumulating,’ one speaker confesses. ‘No one \/ expects to \/ become an \/ exhibit.’ This is a book of beautiful reckonings, unpacking ‘Nature’s cruel paradox’—tender, strange, and pulsing with life.” —Steven Espada Dawson, author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLate to the Search Party\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Lush and luminous, John Paul Martinez’s chapbook\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlternatives for Succulents\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis, like the poet, ‘in constant bloom.’ Find here, reader: ‘every lugubrious flower,’ canny forms, and deft movement down and across the page–these tender poems propagate longing and delight in equal measure.” —Michelle Peñaloza, author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eAll The Words I Can Remember Are Poems\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45361797136407,"sku":"9781949344691","price":13.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0004\/6497\/7956\/files\/9781949344691-scaled.jpg?v=1785962232","url":"https:\/\/open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com\/products\/martinez-john-paul-alternativpb","provider":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}