The Goatherd

Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. Winner, 2015 Western Heritage Award. "Only Larry D. Thomas could create a book of contemporary poems about Gilberto Luna, an actual farmer in the Chihuahuan Desert during the 1900s. THE GOATHERD's narrative internalizes the cloven hooves, taking sustenance from the herd, while protecting them from predators, although not from his own predation. Thomas explores the stark paradoxes of the food chain, as it once was in an earlier, more natural era. Nothing was wasted then, and the Texas Poet Laureate wastes nothing now—especially his stunning poetic precision."—Robert Bonazzi