What Other People Heard When I Taught Myself to Speak is a collection about the compromise of communication, the give and take between the things we have to say and the truth of how and when we might be heard. Part one collects pieces Cocca wrote and published at various venues before studying fiction at The New School. Part two includes many pieces from that time that never found a home.
ÒChris CoccaÕs poetry is rooted in the earth around Bethlehem and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and is saturated with the common place. His poetry is profound in its ability to make ordinary language point us beyond nostalgia and toward a realization that verse can be the bridge between the eclipsing world of youth and the ever-changing world of today.Ó - Thomas Turner, Everyday Liturgy.