The Enigmatical Sphere of El Chupa-Ku: one century of chupacabra haiku - Paperback

Pérez, Juan Manuel: - About the AuthorJuan Manuel Pérez, a Mexican-American poet of Indigenous descent and the Poet Laureate for Corpus Christi, Texas (2019-2020), is the author of numerous poetry books including the award-wining, poetic-memoir, THIRTY YEARS AGO: LIFE AND THE FIRST GULF WAR (2023) and the Mexican-American Barrio Horror Novel-In-Verse, LA SANTA MADRE TAMALERA (2023). Juan, is also the 2021 Horror Authors Guild's Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award winner and a recipient of a 2021 Horror Writers Association Diversity Grant. This poet's credits also include one recent Honorable Mention in the 2025 Inaugural War Poetry Postcard Contest, a 2024 Regal Summit Book Award, two Aphelion's Best Poetry Of The Year Listings (2023, 2024), two Pushcart Prize Nominations (2017, 2023), three Elgin Book Award Nominations (2021, 2022, 2023), four Rhysling Award Nominations (2011, 2012, 2013, 2020), four Dwarf Star Award Nominations (2012, 2020, 2021, 2022) with one Honorable Mention win in 2022, and one H.E.R.O.I.C. People's Choice Award Nomination (2024).Juan's maternal lineage flows through the Purépecha and Otomi people. Currently, the family is also verifying their alleged descendancy to Emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin II through this same line after Ancestry DNA family tree links led to said conclusion. Additionally, relational ties to the mythological Quinametzin, the Indigenous giants of Mexico who purportedly built some of the older pyramids of Mexico, have traditionally been a part of the family's stories. His paternal lineage runs through the Coahuiltecanos, or Indigenous Tejanos, and the modern day Xicanos. In the mid-1990's while still in the military, he was inducted into the Memphis Tia-Piah Big River Clan Warrior Society, a Gourd Dancer Society, and has served on several pow-wow committees and associations as a board member and organizer, as well as leading Red Thunder, a color guard made up of Indigenous Veterans and active-duty service members. While a part of these Tennessee Indigenous associations, Juan and his wife, Dr. Malia Ann Perez, and their two children, along with other various peoples associated with the Mississippi Delta, were part of the historic Great Chickasaw Nation's First Annual Homecoming Celebration on November 5, 1994. This event was literally the "Restaging of The Trail Of Tears" which included a ferry/barge crossing (sponsored by the US Army Corps of Engineers) from the Arkansas side onto Mud Island on the Memphis, Tennessee side. Then, after remarks from city officials, they traveled to Desoto Park on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff which was to be renamed "Chickasaw Heritage Park." This "Rendezvous On The River" as it was promoted was also symbolically called the "Reverse Trail Of Tears." Juan is also a Marine-Regulation Navy Corpsman, a Fleet Marine Force "Doc," that served between 1987 and 1997 who was deployed to Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1990-1991 with the 2nd Marines ground forces and was also part of the Special Marine Air Ground Task Force deployed to assist devastated Homestead, Florida for the Hurricane Andrew Relief in 1992. In that deployment, Juan was one of the specialized field medics and Spanish language translators for the 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.Juan currently Gourd Dances around the Lone Star State with a loose confederacy of Indigenous warriors from Central and South Texas, and also works as a Certified Public High School History Teacher and promotes poetry, as well as, Indigenous/Mexican/Mexican-American History when and where he can.To learn more about this award-winning poet, migrant field worker, combat vet, history teacher, and Native American Gourd Dancer.