It’s not every book of poetry that includes an “Ode to Body Armor.” But then, it’s not every poet whose experience in academia includes a stint at the police academy.
The poems of Sarah Cortez are tough-minded, verbally supple, and often deeply (even explicitly) erotic: You want me to come/ to you each night, drop my gun belt,/ lie along your muscled length . . .
And each of these fifty lyric poems (with titles such as “Rosie Working Plain Clothes,” “Las Tías,” and “Attempt to Locate”) displays Cortez’s many facets: the street smarts of a law-enforcement officer (deputy constable in Houston’s Harris County); the bilingual vocabulary of a proud Mexican American; the coolly analytic eye of a corporate accountant (as she once was); the linguistic dexterity of a Latin teacher (another former occupation); and the frank sensuality of a strong and spirited woman.
Surveying fellow officers, friends, criminals, lovers, strangers, and family members, Sarah Cortez has learned that a bullet-proof vest may¾with luck¾protect the body, but keeping the heart from harm is a chancier and more mysterious affair. Long after the pages of How to Undress a Cop have been turned, her unique and distinctive voice will stir the blood and haunt the memory.
Recipient of the 2000 PEN Texas Literary Award
“Full of hard-edged description and fast-flowing narratives…By turns erotic, tender, and gritty…Powerfully direct.”—Publishers Weekly
“And you thought there was no poetry in police work! This dazzling collection…is an entrancing literary quickie…”—Latina Magazine
“Searing. Sexy. Stunning. Blunt. Sarah Cortez writes poems amazing in their life-force. Prepare to be startled.”—Poet and anthologist Naomi Shihab Nye
“In this, her first collection of poems, Sarah Cortez has already found her voice and her subjects. The voice is brash and powerful and holds nothing back; and the poet commits herself wholeheartedly to depicting the joys of physical love and the risks of a dangerous profession. Cortez is unique: she leaves the reader with the tastes of both lipstick and metal in his mouth.”—Poet Robert Phillips, author of Breakdown Lane: Poems
“Sarah Cortez brings a secret world into poetry, and her crafty first book is nervy, quick-hitting, street-smart, sexual.”—Edward Hirsch, author of Wild Gratitude
SARAH CORTEZ holds degrees from Rice University, the University of Texas-Austin, and the University of Houston. Her work has previously appeared in literary magazines, anthologies, and chapbooks. How to Undress a Cop is her first collection of poetry.
Learn more at poetacortez.com
