I am the son of an Ecuadorian mother and Puerto Rican father, and I grew up in Colorado. I have published three poetry collections: Friday and the Year That Followed (Fairweather Books), The Siren World (Lithic Press), and The Handyman’s Guide to End Times (University of New Mexico Press), which was the winner of the 2019 International Latino Book Award. My writing centers around storytelling, failing and learning bilingualism, war literature, identity, heritage, horror, sci fi, prose poetry, hybrid forms, and ecopoetics. My new poetry collection, Dream of the Bird Tattoo, will be published by University of New Mexico Press in 2025, centering on grief, humor, and dream writing. I am also working on a collection of essays, a new poetry collection, and a Latinx creative writing textbook. Individual pieces have also been published in journals, including Crazyhorse, The Laurel Review, Breakbeats Vol. 4 LatiNEXT, Acentos Review, South Dakota Review, Sugar House Review, Poetry, South Carolina Review, and others.
In the classroom, my teaching emphasizes collaboration and community to establish breakthroughs, delight, and persistence in our writing. In the past I taught at Pueblo Community College and then Colorado State University Pueblo, where I also served as Department Chair and Associate Dean. I also teach workshops widely for communities and organizations like Lighthouse Writers and others within the region.
Literary citizenship is another priority to me, so I weave publishing, editorial work, and the business of writing into my classes and community work. I have served as the Editor of Pilgrimage, a literature magazine with a focus on story, spirit, witness, and place in and beyond the greater Southwest, part of the Editorial Board of terrain.org, CSU Pueblo’s student literary magazine, Tempered Steel, and other publishing collaborations. I have also done community work and fellowships with CantoMundo, Macondo, Longleaf Writers Conference, and more literary communities and organizations.
I live in Pueblo, Colorado with my family, and when I’m not teaching and writing, I enjoy distance and trail running, trivia, fútbol, biking, travel, and all things outdoors.
