Description:
This book is dedicated to every kid told who they were, before discovering on their own. It's for the teachers and mentors praying their students won't fall into the traps the world has set for them. These poems are for liberation, and those who strive for peace by any means. For the ones who feel like a mistake, the ones riddled with grief and self-doubt. This book is for Duval County and every poet who inspired me to believe that dreams come true. For every undiagnosed genius believing their words aren't worth reading. This is for Ivanna, for Pablo, for Olga, for Emma, for Tonya, for Will, for Clinton, for Samantha, for every ancestor at my back and their shoulders I stand on. This is for anyone who's ever had someone yuck their yum. I promise you're already amazing.
Brief description: Matthew 'Cuban' Hernandez is a poet, emcee, speaker, actor, and performance coach from Jacksonville, Florida. He has toured as far as Abu Dhabi and nearly every major city in the United States and Europe, performing, teaching and coaching poetry. A teaching artist for over 15 years, Matthew has spent the last ten years working in youth detention centers across Los Angeles County, currently serving as the Director of Juvenile Programming for Street Poets, Inc. In addition, he is a current Lead Teacher and Co-Founder of Spoken Literature Art Movement. Cuban has opened for artists such as Wu-Tang, performed for platforms such as BuzzFeed and NPR and even appeared on the award-winning television show, Better Things. Matthew is also a three-time Southern Fried poetry slam champion and an award-winning poetry coach. Cuban's favorite activity is making people feel great; sometimes he does this through hip hop and poetry.
Review Quotes:
"Matthew 'Cuban' Hernandez is the kind of writer who makes you want to live bigger. You'll be going about your day and something will remind you of a poem of his and the moment will exponentially expand through the lens of his words. I'm grateful for his perspective, his extraordinary ability to articulate it, and this new collection of little windows into his world, and in turn, ours as well."
-JP Saxe, Grammy nominated singer songwriter
"Matthew 'Cuban' Hernandez's poems are an anthem of resilience. He writes about grief with unflinching tenderness and reverence. In a world that doesn't often give men the opportunity to be flawed and vulnerable, Hernandez offers a masterclass in being human. He describes himself as having an unquenchable thirst for love, and in All Brown Boys Get
Trumpets, the reader will also embrace this beautiful thirst. Matthew Hernandez has lovingly used this poetry collection to teach Brown Boys to master flight one jump at a time, a calling for all of us misfits to soar."
-Yesika Salgado, author of Corazón, Tesoro, and Hermosa
"All Brown Boys Get Trumpets is such a gift. Like a tapestry, the poems seamlessly interweave threads of childhood and identity, blessings, and folklore, hopes and regrets. Never before has a book felt more like an heirloom to me--something hard-earned and sunkissed and meant to be cherished."
-Sierra DeMulder, internationally-acclaimed author, poet, healer and host of podcast "Just break up"
"Matthew Cuban has always been and will always be a poet among the people."
-G YAMAZAWA, Japanese-American writer, performer, and hip hop artist