Praise For SCREW THE WALL! In Screw the Wall, Juan Manuel Pérez answers the question: what can brown poetry do for you? He does so as he digs in and swings for and at the fences. This book of impactful poetry deals mainly with barriers-barriers erected by poverty, prejudice, culture, and language; barriers imagined and real; barriers conquered, and barriers left to be scaled. These poems range from the humorous, to the satiric, to the poignant, to the nostalgic. A few of these worthwhile works might strike a nerve or two with their readers, but as Pérez reminds us about the border wall in his poem A Promising Letter to a Worrisome Trump, "No need to worry; We'll get over it!" Likewise, In Screw the Wall Juan Manuel Pérez has hit a home run deep over the wall. Alan Berecka author of The Hamlet of Stittville 2017-2018 Corpus Christi Poet Laureate If you have never heard the poetry of Juan Manuel Pérez then you are in for a treat. You must hear his words, as reading them is not enough. He writes the poems that many are afraid to discuss. He writes the poems many will hide from. He writes the poems that all need to hear. His words are diverse and full of compassion, but he speaks the hard truths our Nation struggles with daily. These truths have divided families, increased the struggles for minorities (which are becoming the majority), and left those affected silent and waiting for a chance. Pérez offers words full of insight and empathy and his influences are strong. Malia A. Pérez, Ed.D. author of Everything Depends Upon The Little Things 2009-2015 World Book Night Ambassador and Three-Time Teacher Of The Year In his most recent poetry collection, Screw The Wall! And Other Brown People Poems, Juan Manuel Pérez invites us into his soul, beckoning: "I invite you into my soul / Somewhere between Texas and Mexico." And it is in this "somewhere" where his poetry happens: poetry of lived experience, poetry of place, poetry where "America is the land of the lost" and the only thing that will shine a light in its dark path is love. This collection is full of "strong, bronze Chicano poems," and I am reading. Octavio Quintanilla author of Wasted Time 2018-2020 San Antonio Poet Laureate