In his new collection of poetry, Ten Lepers and Other Poems: Exorcising Academic Demons, author Genaro Jesse Perez presents verses that explore a variety of topics, including both his experiences in academia and those of other people he has encountered in his more than thirty-five years as a professor. Other poems in the collection were inspired by the gospel of Luke and the angry God of the Old Testament as well.

"Sleeping from Futility" examines how student evaluations now dictate who is good in the academic world and who is not, while the "Flood of Perdition" considers the way in which an unexpected death sentence of a young, beautiful student causes a man to rethink his allegiance to his wife of many years.


Perez examines the challenges and pitfalls of the academic demons that exist in his life day in and day out. Ten Lepers and Other Poems resonates with the dilemmas encountered in a world many will never understand.


Academic Demons

Having received the power

to tread upon serpents

and scorpions and upon

the full force that the enemies

of truth and reason spawn,

Nothing will harm me.

I rejoice because my name

shall be written in heaven.

Woe to them who are to blame:

They will fall like meteors

from the academic welkin.