Your daily dose of Chicano poetry
"I write poems on walls that crumble and fall
I talk to shadows that sleep and go away crying.”
Luis Omar Salinas (1937–2008)
Rosemary Catacalos
Morning Geography
for Naomi Shihab Nye
Suppose the flower rioting on my desk, its wild, shouting
yellow streaked with red and ruffled as an agitated jungle bird,
suppose this flower, large as my hand, could be pulled apart
and the sweetness wrung out the way we did honeysuckle so long
ago, rhyming summer nights with fireflies: This drop of honey
for courage, this drop of honey for love, this drop for anything
you are dreaming of…. Last night I dreamed a woman I love
(in Spanish we say dreamed with, soñe con Noemí) running flat out
through Texas sagebrush to save her Uncle Mohammed, who died
on a mountain in Palestine years ago, a hermit who wanted no saving.
Dreams are like this, make all things possible. The way just now,
still drugged with sleep, I supposed a loud flower could save us, tell us
something about sweetness when half a world away a man tends a fire
in the street before his tiny rug shop, a short distance from some broken
buildings. He breathes the thick signals of burning tires, decoy smoke
to make the bombers think they’ve already struck here. Suppose we could
have coffee with him, strong, laced with cardamom and small talk.
Suppose we’d figured out, on those immense and long ago
lost summer nights, how to get at the sweetness
without tearing the proud throat of even one blossom.
Rosemary Catacalos has been a poetry fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Institute of Letters/University of Texas, and the Stegner program at Stanford University. She was also an affiliated scholar at Stanford’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender. She is currently the Executive Director at Gemini Ink in San Antonio.
“Morning Geopgraphy” comes via Poets Against War.
The 2008-2009 Tejas Star Book Award
Via La Bloga
The Tejas Star Book Award was created by the Region One ESC Library Advisory Committee to promote reading in general and for readers to discover the cognitive and economic benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism. All the children of Texas have the opportunity to select their favorite book from the Tejas Star list during the 2008-2009 school year.
Congratulations to Xavier Garza! His bilingual book Lucha Libre, The Man in the Silver Mask: a bilingual cuento (Cinco Puntos Press) won the 2008-2009 Tejas Star Book award.
THEY’RE NO LONGER SOMEONE NAMED ALEJANDRO LOPEZ OR HORACIO BALDERA. THEY BECOME CHICANO POWER, THEY BECOME THE RED DEVIL.
Do you know what lucha libre is? Have you ever been to a lucha libre match and seen los technicos and los rudos—the good guys and the bad guys—dressed up in their wild costumes and crazy masks? How would you feel if the most famous luchador of all time actually stopped and smiled at you? Find out what happens to Carlitos when The Man in the Silver Mask—a man he’s never seen before in his whole life—turns and does that very thing to him.
Kids—of all ages—are drawn to the allure of lucha libre and its masked men and women. In Lucha Libre, young fans will see this fascinating world come alive: favorite heroes and much-feared villains, dressed in dazzling and outrageous costumes, strut and prance across the mat and bounce against the ropes, daring anyone to take them to the floor!
-Andricaín, Sergio (Comp). (2008). Arco Iris de Poesía: Poemas de las Américas y España. New York: Lectorum [Scholastic]. Olga Cuellar (Illus.) ISBN: 1930332599
-Argueta, Jorge. (2006). La fiesta de las tortillas/The Fiesta of the Tortillas. Miami: Alfaguara [Santillana]. María Jesús Álvarez (Illus.) ISBN: 1598200941
-Brown, Mónica. (2007). Butterflies on Carmen Street/Mariposas en la calle Carmen. Houston: Piñata Books [Arte Público]. April Ward (Illus.) ISBN: 9781558854840
-Colato Laínez, René. (2005). I am René, the Boy/Soy René, el Niño. Houston: Piñata Books [Arte Público]. Fabiola Graullera Ramírez (Illus). ISBN: 1558853782
-Cuenca, Héctor. (2008). La cucarachita Martina. New York: Lectorum [Scholastic]. ISBN: 1933032367
-Lázaro, Georgina. (2007). Juana Inés. Cuando los grandes eran pequeños. New York: Lectorum [Scholastic]. Bruno González Preza (Illus.) ISBN: 1930332572
-Pérez, Amada Irma. (2007). Nana’s Big Surprise/Nana, ¡Qué Sorpresa! San Francisco, Calfornia: Children’s Book Press. Maya Christina González (Illus.) ISBN 0892391901
-Romeu, Emma. (2007). El rey de las octavas. New York: Lectorum [Scholastic]. Enrique S. Moreiro (Illus.) ISBN: 193303226X
-Ruiz-Flores, Lupe. (2007). The Woodcutter’s Gift/El regalo del leñador. Houston: Piñata Books [Arte Público]. Elaine Jerome (Illus.) ISBN: 9781558854895
-Tafolla, Carmen and Sharyll Teneyuca. (2008). That’s Not Fair! Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice/¡No es Justo! La lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la justicia. San Antonio, Texas: Wings Press. Terry Ybañez (Illus.) ISBN: 9780916727338
-Zepeda, Gwendolyn. (2008). Growing up with Tamales/Los Tamales de Ana. Houston: Piñata Books [Arte Público]. April Ward (Illus.) ISBN: 9781558854932
-Alire Sáenz, Benjamin. (2008). A Perfect Season for Dreaming/Un tiempo perfecto para soñar. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos. Esau Andrade Valencia (illus.). Lluis Humberto Crosthwaite (trans.). ISBN: 978-1-933693-01-9. Gr. 1-5.
-Anaya, Rudolfo. (2007). The First Tortilla: A Bilingual Story. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Amy Córdova (illus.). Enrique R. Lamadrid (trans.) ISBN: 978-0-8263-4214-0. Gr. 3+.
-Brown, Monica. (2007). My Name is Gabito/Me llamo Gabito. Flagstaff, AZ: Luna Rising. Raúl Colón (illus.). ISBN: 978-0-87358-908-6. Gr. K-3.
-Costales, Amy. (2007). Abuelita Full of Life/Abuelita llena de vida. Flagstaff, AZ: Luna Rising. Martha Avilés (illus.) ISBN: 978-0-87358-914-7. Gr. K-2.
-Garza, Xavier. (2008). Charro Claus and the Tejas Kid. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos. ISBN: 978-1-933693-24-8. Gr. 2-5.
-Gonzalez Bertrand, Diane. (2007). We Are Cousins/Somos primos. Houston: Piñata Books. Christina E. Rodriguez (illus.). ISBN: 978-1-55885-486-4. Gr. K-3.
-González, Lucía. (2007). The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos. San Francisco: Children’s Book Press. Lulu Delacre (illus.). ISBN: 978-0-89239-222-3. Gr. 3-6.
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Ray Gonzalez poems
Three poems by Ray Gonzalez at Cerise Press
Erase the Seventh Moon
James Wright Returns to Minneapolis
The Same Window
RAY GONZALEZ is the author of sixteen books, including Cool Auditor: Prose Poems (BOA Editions, 2009) and Faith Run: Poems (University of Arizona Press, 2009). He is the editor of No Boundaries: Prose Poems by 24 American Poets (Tupelo Press, 2004). His work has appeared in Best American Poetry and The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. He teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Manuel Lozano
Alma Rebelde
`Mi cielo se mira en el espejo del rio,
El sol llega y corona al amanecer,
Los pajarillos cantan con tanta alegria
Mientras los campos comienzan a florecer.
Mi alma rebelde para y suspira,
Las lineas fueron marcadas en ese papel,
Pues ese paisage tan lindo que mira
Ya nunca jamas podra ser de el.
Hay arbol torcido sin alguna esparanza,
Mi raiz necesita beber de esa agua,
Pero entre tanta barrera no se alcanza
El fondo del pozo de la epoca antigua.
Mi cielo se nubla al recordar el pasado,
La luz no ilumina ninguna pared,
Aqui me encuentro desconocido y cansado
Sin alguna manera de curar esta sed.
Hay alma rebelde que bien me conoces,
Sabes naci para hacer lo que tengo que hacer,
Aquellas tormentas en aquellas voces
Dividen la tierra por puro placer.
La vida camina al son del latido,
Y este guerrero al tambor de batalla,
Los cercos cicatrizan lo que han herido
Alli donde la sombra cuelga su medalla.
Hay sangre mia que resistes con calma,
No hay cosa mejor que saber quien naciste,
La historia esta escrita en la palma,
Y el puño de tierra sabra lo que combatiste.
Por hoy me ocupo en sonar las alarmas,
El rio no canta sin el movimiento,
Con estas palabras me levanto en armas,
Pues cruzan fronteras en las alas del viento.
Hay corazon mio que tanto te duele,
Si supieras lo tanto que hay que decir,
Mi voz y mi mente dicen que te consuele,
Pero algunas cosas no son facil de traducir.
Tu sientes aquello que quema por dentro,
Y no puedo seguir con los brazos cruzados,
Aquel guerrillero se encuentra en el centro
De aquellas tormentas que an creado dos lados.
Mi cielo se mira en el espejo del rio,
El sol llega y corona al amanecer,
El pueblo aquel se encuentra dividido
En tierra indigena donde vine a nacer.
Mi alma rebelde se encuentra dispuesto,
No hay consecuencia que me mantenga callado,
Al rio yo vengo a reclamar lo nuestro,
Pero veo que nadie se encuentra a mi lado.
`
Manuel Lozano “de El Paso, birthplace of the pachuco, and where the Rio Bravo flows no more.”
Xican@ Poetry Daily 