Back when I was attending Cornell University I stumbled upon a few poems in an old issue of our campus magazine, The Risley Review. These poems were by a man I had never heard of before, and yet I found this unknown's work revolutionary and deep. In my spare time I researched everything I could on this poet, and eventually decided to put together a collection of his eclectic and hard-to-find work.

Unfortunately I have not yet been able to get a publisher interested. But my lawyer has finally agreed to allow me to make a small selection available on the web. As a bonus I have included my brief introduction to the book:



Spite presents:
Death, Tang, and Fetuses
The collected works of Zaldivar Jones

Introduction by Kevin Hines

Who is Zaldivar Jones? Not a lot is known about this man. It is known that he was born in the early 1950's in Mexico. Both his parents were Americans who were working for the peace corps. It is relatively certain that Zaldivar Jones is not his real name, but is an alias he adopted before moving back to America in 1969. He started writing poems in the early 70's when he was attending Sisseton Wahpeton Community College in Sisseton, South Dakota.

His early poems are still lost to this day. A few people from the area recall hearing him recite his poems during an open mike night at a local bar, The Haunt. He would dress in all black, with an eye patch over his left eye, and he would wear old worn leather gloves. None of these poems were ever published in any form, so they are sadly not included in this collection.

In 1975, Zaldivar got some notice by working in a more unique medium - windows. Late on the night of June 1st he had written 3 poems with bright red lipstick on various windows. The morning of June 2nd Francis eats a Bean and becomes a Fetus was found written on the main window of Sisseton's town hall. Death Rides a Cantering Stallion Bare-Back with Leather Chaps was found on a Dr. Andrew Shuler's doctor's office, and Breakfast was discovered on Carlos Garza's barber shop that was located in a run down shopping center. Despite finally gaining some attention Zaldivar left town in 1978.

Sadly this is the last definite sighting of Zaldivar. What happened to him after that? Well his poems appeared on a few more windows across the years. On occasion small press magazine would print one of his poems including The Risley Review at Cornell University. His most widely seen poem probably came when he was the fourth feature of Filling Station Monthly, a trade magazine which usually focused on articles pertaining to gas stations. Apparently, the editor liked Zaldivar's work, and this publication brought a lot of notice to Pull My Finger

Was Zaldivar an eccentric? Undoubtedly. Genius? Well that's subjective, but I surely believe so. And to put it in Zaldivar Jones own words, "E=mc², or something like that."

can of corn
can of corn
Selection of Poems:
an engine
an engine

Most of Kevin's friends think he has awful taste in everything.

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