My Spoken Word Wife: Playing for Keeps

For all poetas, guerreras, cholas, curanderas, maestras, baby mamas, mamacitas, reinas, wilderness exploradoras, wild survivalist women, in the multiverse and interdimensional locotas! My Spoken Word Wife: Playing for Keeps is a gift for all of them and the barrio they are from.

This book is also a socio-economic blueprint to teach social justice and class struggles for young vatos, struggling to find their place and voice.

Enter the world of rhythm and verse crafted by Misael Juarez and go on a journey like no other.


"The streets are mean, but the gentle heart of a poet conquers the rage and puts it on the page. Beat by beat, the poetry unfolds and reveals visions from a shaman’s heart. The Sacred Poet is back, and he’s got your back. The Ancestors speak truth and sing through Juarez’s words and declarations of freedom and liberation. "

-Josefina López Author of Real Women Have Curves & Artistic Director of Casa 0101 Theater

Misael Juarez is a Los Angeles Zapotec who writes to alleviate the intensity of psychosis and schizo-affective disorder, all while achieving a voice for the faceless working-class people, the unjustly caged-up children, the vatos locos coming from the bottom, y las chavas. His works speak to the lonely community of schizophrenics out there. His craft is for those who pay attention to rap lyrics and for lovers of romantic love poetry, barrio ascension, gems of wisdom, and revolutionary and social justice with a touch of wild scenic. My Spoken Word Wife: Playing for Keeps highlights all of these themes and aims, and centers on respect for feminine virtues. He's the poetic soldier from every dark corner in the city, a true working-class lyricist. My Spoken Word Wife: Playing for Keeps is his first collection published with Barrio Blues Press.