The Lingua Franca of Ninth Street

“The poems in The Lingua Franca of Ninth Street are like meditations that fracture us into a burning reflection. This is the mediated life personified through Lyric; the dead coming to radiant life after leaving blood and heart on the street. When I think of that old axiom about the difference between religious and spiritual people (religious folks are afraid to go to Hell; spiritual folks already been there), I think of these poems. Randall Horton is a spiritual poet and we’ll all be better for letting him be our guide.” —Willie Perdomo