Poetry. Political Studies. It's late in the game. A pall has settled over the crowd. Then, fresh from the bullpen of dreams, David Volpendesta strides in, a barnstormer in motley pinstripes, sporting a dozen ball caps, a halo, and a propeller. Look He's pitching with both hands at once Throwing beach balls and silver coins Outwitting reason and outrunning rhyme Now he's autographing copies of FORBIDDEN PSALMS as mesmerized fans cheer wildly --Michael Koch
David Volpendesta's poems are like biting into a ripe apple. They are perfectly wet and heavy but not so weighty that you couldn't carry one with you in a pocket. The writing is beautiful, and also challenges the reader to engage with the life and death issues. If poetry holds some of the answers, they may be in this book.--Kim Shuck
These psalms are more than just forbidden, they spill over into the poetic, the profane, the political, and the profound. With a diverse range of subjects, often personalities he knew, like Harold Norse and Claribel Alegr -a, or those who influenced his own trajectory, like Pablo Neruda and Roque Dalton, or even a psalm to a great baseball player, Ron Santo, or to a little-known Latin American poet like Alfonsina Storni. The writing is evocative, straightforward and deeply moving. A major work by a long-time poet, David Volpendesta reaches his zenith in these intense, marvelous poems turned to psalms.--Alejandro Murgu -a