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)
Update: 35th Chicano/Latino Literary Prize
Unfortunately, this contest has been canceled this year.
2009: Poetry Collection
35th Chicano/Latino Literary Prize
is now accepting manuscripts in the genre of poetry.
Manuscript must be unpublished full-length poetry (80 typed pages maximum, 60 typed pages minimum). Due date is June 1, 2009
Past recipients include: Alma Villanueva, Juan Felipe Herrera, Francisco X. Alarcon, and Carmen Tafolla, among others.
Visit the University of California at Irvine for submission details
Sleep Dealer
A futuristic premise not so far-fetched where the U.S. “gets the work without the worker” (i.e. “Mexican”) through a cyber-bracero program. C’mon.. we know they’d do it if they could. Directed by Alex Rivera.
Dagoberto Gilb
An abundance of healing energy to Dagoberto Gilb who recently suffered a stroke. Recover well and quickly.
Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Gilb at P.O.V.’s Border Talk: Follow the link to read it in it’s entirety.
Writing is a permanent flu — it hits you, you have no control of it. Its symptoms are: Light-headed, feverish daydreaming about writing while at a paying job that you get fired from; gut-wrenching dread of having a worthless, unemployable life while writing one paragraph in two hours for a piece that you may (or may not if it’s lousy, which it often is), after you have lots and lots and lots of paragraphs, a hundred or two dollars; finally, and even worse, a hallucinogenic-like bloodrush when something you have written is accepted — this delusional exhilaration can affect personality for many troubled years, even when the only other person to have read it and believed in you and this work, momentarily, was your one and only love (not even your mom will have been impressed), the one you shouldn’t have let get away, but she now dismisses you because you’re such a financial loser.
You can also find an excerpt from his book The Magic of Blood HERE
LA BLOGA FLASH FICTION WRITING CONTEST?
“Because I had such a good time writing my half-dozen pieces for ficción rápida, my post last week, I’ve been thinking about sponsoring a flash (i.e., very short) fiction contest here on La Bloga. We can’t offer $2,500 like Esquire, but we can get you published here on our blog. And I may come up with a signed book or two, from authors you will certainly recognize, as additional prizes. But the contest won’t happen unless there is significant interest. So, if you like this idea post a comment and let me know. If we get enough interest, I’ll have more details next week.” ~Manuel Ramos
Liza Orozco
Check out Liza Orozco’s work at Hot Damn Photography. Came across this site via Tex[t]-Mex Galleryblog. Beautiful images. I particularly like the one of the three mujeres in sepia.
Xican@ Poetry Daily 