I have been lucky enough to have been reading Antonio for a couple of years now and, while the talent and the gift were always there, I have been steadily pleased by the stimulating growth in his maturity. There is a vein in his work that I have come to recognize, and that I call playful seriousness, which is a lot different than, serious playfulness - which is a province of minor poets. What Antonio's work necessitates is that he always requires, rereading and extensive contemplation. That is something he won't get from most readers, but he will get it from the best of them.
Daniel J. Langton
Author of Querencia
This collection is a highly individual and successful book of poetry that connects the poet’s major influences, Nobel Prize winning poet Pablo Neruda’s work with Beat poetry. The poems refresh these two influences in a collection that is at once personal and political. The language is fresh and convincing, and the poems themselves are both structurally skillful and emotionally satisfying. Fernandez’s skill with imagery is also apparent in many lines that accentuate his exuberant and playful ability with words and their conjunctions on the page. Fernandez’s work is both sincere and intellectually honest. He is successful in appealing to a wide audience.
Author of A Boy in Winter