Journey through Everywhere and Nowhere: A Review of David A. Romero's "Diamond Bars 2" by Andrew Wong

Diamond Bars 2 (Moon Tide Press, 2024) is a collection of poems about David A. Romero’s personal experiences as a Mexican American in his hometown of Diamond Bar, California. This book serves as a follow-up to Romero’s Diamond Bars: The Street Version (Dimlights Publishing, 2010) which also discusses his experiences of Diamond Bar through poetry, though readers do not need to read this first book to understand this one. In addition to these two books, Romero has also authored My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press, 2020), is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of El Martillo Press, and writes poetry focusing on family, identity, social justice, and Hispanic culture. Romero’s works has also earned him honors from universities across the country such as USC, UCLA, and Washington State University. Finally, his work has also been published in magazines like Black Bear Review, on websites such as Counterpunch, and on radio programs like KTEP 88.5 FM El Paso (Words on a Wire).
As you might imagine, this book and its poems are heavily tied to the city of Diamond Bar. As someone who also grew up in Diamond Bar, this book does an amazing job at capturing the landscape and culture of the city. References to local businesses such the Oak Tree Lane Bowling alley and restaurants such as the Whole Enchilada and Pacos Tacos, both of which have unfortunately closed down recently, make it clear that Diamond Bar serves as the core foundation to poems. One poem makes specific reference to a local event in 2018 that was a massive news story and which I clearly remember everyone in the community discussing when it happened. Romero’s use of these intimate details makes his poems feel rich and authentic, especially if you have lived in Diamond Bar.
With this, it is important to note that readers do not need a close knowledge of Diamond Bar to understand and appreciate these poems. The foreword of the book, written by former Diamond Bar High School teacher Kenneth Kirkeby, provides all the necessary context of both Diamond Bar and Romero’s background and work that readers might need to enjoy the book. It discusses how unique Diamond Bar is in how it’s “kind of nowhere” because of its lack of a dominant culture or identity. The city is home to many ethnic groups, such as Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Hispanic, Black, and White. These diverse demographics mean Diamond Bar has a bit of almost every culture but also causes it to lack distinction beyond being a “safe place to live.” With this, Romero takes great advantage of the city’s ability to be both everywhere and nowhere at the same time in order to make the setting relatable to everyone, while still having it be distinctly Diamond Bar.
Going beyond the setting, the poems in this book are also fantastic at depicting Romero’s personal experiences. One of the personal aspects that he explores well is the Hispanic experience in such poems as “Searching for Mexicans in Suburbia,” in which Romero describes the struggles of maintaining Mexican identity in the suburban landscape. The poem tackles the tricky notion of being a “real Mexican” and the positive and negative connotations that come with it, such as the stereotype of being “only” laborers and gardeners. After covering these struggles, Romero finishes this poem with a powerful conclusion: “In Southern California / Mexicans predate suburbia / And here we shall remain.”
Another common theme that Romero explores is personal struggle. The poetic highlight of this theme would be “You Were Born a Tree,” which focuses on the title’s metaphor of growing but then having your branches chopped off to fit the specific needs of society: “But your branches were cut / And the traces sanded down and polished smooth / You were given / One direction to grow in / Your designated shape.” After that, the rest of the poem focuses on the struggles of coping and trying to find yourself again. In the end, the poem finishes with a strong and uplifting conclusion: “You can grow again / You can be whole again / You were born a tree.”
The last two poems that I wish to discuss are special for the fact that Romero has made video readings of them on his YouTube channel. The first poem is "Basketball with Edgar Allan Poe," which is filmed like a play with the poem as the script of the video. This video helps to bring out the emotions of the absurd concept of the poem. The second poem made into a video is "The Redemption of Roxy Salgado." Despite the simple style of the video, Romero’s reading of the poem into the camera is still able to capture the great emotions of the story of the fictional Roxy Salgado. These two poems are representative of the rest of the poems in the book and are great to watch for any interested viewer.
In total, Romero’s poetry does an excellent job of capturing the spirit of Diamond Bar as an engaging place, despite it being known for being not particularly interesting to non-residents. In addition to this, Romero is still able to make these poems approachable to all by including poems about his personal struggles, his perspective as a Mexican American, and wild concepts such as playing a one-on-one basketball match with a dead poet. With this, Romero has made another excellent representation of what many believe to be a nondescript city and overcome the odds to make it truly memorable.