‘A Rosa is a Rose’ is a selection of fifty poems from the last ten years released in October 2025, alongside the opening of his solo painting exhibition ‘PALOMAS (pretty things)’ at miłość in London. 

It is an account of a poet and painter from elsewhere. He writes letters to himself, stories of love and grief, that document the longings and dreams of a place full of flowers. He is the horses and the pigeons, the barriers, desires and leftovers. 

The poems often intertwine English and Spanish in a voice genuine to their subject – simultaneously full of hope and disenchantment, as he tries to make it past the bouncer of the western ideal. The book is illustrated with the author’s paintings, printed in black and white, commemorating the poems, like souvenirs or stamps of the times and sentiments.

The evening will be filled with reading, thoughtful conversation, and an open Q&A with Douglas Cantor.

OH BABY!

The dead pigeon under the bridge looked so peaceful
You saw it first and said “oh baby” and right then I knew what to look for.
Dead birds look so heavy when they are dead, 
like they weigh ten gold bars and not ten cents.
She was so graceful though, 
like she had just been placed there by a loving hand. 
Yet still in the middle of the pavement, undignified, unceremonial, undeserving 
and yet again, with her little head tucked to the right, 
as if asleep, lying there. 
And for as long as she lay, that dirty Peckham road turned altar.
I wanted to move her somewhere quieter. 
I did not.