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)
A Happy Birthday to Tino Villanueva
[Excerpt from Scene from the Movie GIANT]
Born on December 11, 1941 in San Marcos, Texas, Tino Villanueva worked as a migrant worker, assembly-line worker, and an army supply clerk. He is the founder of Imagine Publishers, Inc., and editor of Imagine: International Chicano Poetry Journal. Author of the book length poem Scene from the Movie GIANT (Curbstone, 1993) Villanueva has published three other volumes of poetry, Hay Otra Voz Poems, Shaking Off the Dark and Chronicle of My Worst Years/ Crónica de mis años peores. Villanueva won the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for Scene from the Movie GIANT in 1994.
[Source: Curbstone
Gabo’s Farewell Letter
This has landed in my e-mail box, and I thought I would share:
FAREWELL LETTER FROM A GENIUS
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, famous writer from Colombia, and Nobel Peace Prize
winner for literature, has retired from public life for reasons of health. He
has a form of cancer, which is terminal. He has sent a farewell letter to his
friends.It is recommended reading because it is moving to see how one of the best and
most brilliant of writers expresses himself & with sorrow. (Even as I’m
SURE this would have sounded TWICE as good in Spanish, let us enjoy the English
version nonetheless….)=======================
He says:
If God, for a second, forgot what I have become and granted me a little bit
more of life, I would use it to the
best of my ability.I wouldn’t, possibly, say everything that is in my mind, but I would be
more thoughtful of all I say. I would give merit to things not for what they are
worth, but for what they mean to express.I would sleep little, I would dream more, because I know that for every minute
that we close our eyes, we waste 60 seconds of light.I would walk while others stop; I would awake while others sleep.
If God would give me a little bit more of life, I would dress in a simple
manner, I would place myself in front of the sun, leaving not only my body, but
my soul naked at its mercy.To all men, I would say how mistaken they are when they think that they stop
falling in love when they grow old, without knowing that they grow old when they
stop falling in love.I would give wings to children, but I would leave it to them to learn how to
fly by themselves.To old people I would say that death doesn’t arrive when they grow old, but
with forgetfulness.I have learned so much with you all, I have learned that everybody wants to
live on top of the mountain, without knowing that true happiness is obtained in
the journey taken & the form used to reach the top of the hill.I have learned that when a newborn baby holds, with its little hand, his
father’s finger, it has trapped him for the rest of his life.I have learned that a man has the right and obligation to look down at another
man, only when that man needs help to get up from the ground.Say always what you feel, not what you think. If I knew that today is the last
time that I am going to see you asleep, I would hug you with all my strength and
I would pray to the Lord to let me be the guardian angel of your soul.If I knew that these are the last moments to see you, I would say ‘I love
you’.There is always tomorrow, and life gives us another opportunity to do things
right, but in case I am wrong, and today is all that is left to me, I would love
to tell you how much I love you & that I will never forget you.Tomorrow is never guaranteed to anyone, young or old.
Today could be the last time to see your loved ones, which is why you
mustn’t wait; do it today, in case tomorrow never arrives. I am sure you
will be sorry you wasted the opportunity today to give a smile, a hug, a kiss,
and that you were too busy to grant them their last wish.Keep your loved ones near you; tell them in their ears and to their faces how
much you need them and love them. Love them and treat them well; take your time
to tell them ‘I am sorry’;’ forgive me’,’ please’
‘thank you’, and all those loving words you know.Nobody will know you for your secret thought. Ask the Lord for wisdom and
strength to express them.Show your friends and loved ones how important they are to you.
Send this letter to those you love. If you don’t do it today…tomorrow
will be like yesterday, and if you never do it, it doesn’t matter either,
the moment to do it is now.For you,
With much love,
Your Friend,Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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I’m lifting this short story from poet Jose Flores’ My Space Blog. Visit him HERE:
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My intentions were not to turn left on Casar Chavez street. I use the word “intentions” because that song ” I’m just a soul whose intentions are good, oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood” blasted from the car radio and I tapped ta ta ta ta ta ta tatatatata as I looked into the night on my left window. I was still driving an old and white Toyota wagon with the back window partly smashed and mended with gray duct tape and clear plastic. Three times I had patched that window leaving the old goo stuck to the metal edges of the tail gate and collecting all kinds of Austin smut. One late afternoon as I was rushing to my Work-study in the UT Tower, I paralleled squeezed that old Toyota in the only slot available between a small car and a red Jeep Cherokee. When I returned four hours later, a note written in pencil was stuck to my windshield wiper. ” You insensitive bastard,” it read. “I wasted 45 minutes getting out of here. YOU deserve this piece of shit you are driving.” That hurt.
But this evening I turned left on Casar Chavez street after I saw this vagrant on the corner. In austin these guys are landmarks. They mark most corners of busy intersections holding their tattered amusing cardboard signs. Most signs beg “Anything helps” and God Bless You.” or “Veteran…Need Food”. Some are clever found poetry, “Imagine a Burger and Fries,” but most of us have become insensitive to the signs and the holders, unless the pathos level is raised by the occasional dog with the red bandana around the neck or the leather-faced old woman.
This evening what grabbed me was the time. No one begs at the corner in the dark. And the sign. This sad figure held the sign backwards; from the sidewalk, he stared at headlight and held an empty sign.My intensions were not to turn left on Cesar Chavez but that was the only way I could square a few more lefts and come onto him again to tell him about the sign. And I did.
” Hey man, your sign is backwards”. My window was rolled down about a foot and I could see him under the street light. The car radio was off and the only sounds were the traffic of IH 35 rushing under Caesar Chavez Street. “Your sign, man, it’s backwards!”
The man did not speak. He trotted towards me expecting the handout. “The sign…it’s backwards.”
He glanced at the cardboard, flipped it, and held the sign to my window. The backside was also blank. The sign was blank. As blank as his expression, as blank as his gray and empty gaze. What sticky change I could grab with my right hand from the cup holder, I gave him as I rolled the window open.
He stepped back on the sidewalk and held his empty sign. He held it tight in front of him. His message clear for all to read.
Jose Flores
and read one of Flores’ poems HERE
Premio Aztlán Literary Prize
The Premio Aztlan Literary Award has moved from the University of New Mexico to the National Hispanic Cultural Center. The Premio Aztlán is a national award, established to encourage and reward emerging Chicana and Chicano authors. Renowned author, Rudolfo Anaya and his wife, Patricia, founded Premio Aztlán in 1993.
Carlos Vásquez, at The History and Literary Arts National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, especially encourages submissions from Texas authors and Texas presses.
Contact him at (505) 246-2261 ext. 123 for further details.
This year’s the award and lecture will be given at the National Latino Writers Conference, May 21-23, 09.
Guidelines:
• Literary prize is for a work of fiction (novels and collections of short stories) published within the calendar year.
• Authors must have published not more than two books.
• Entries must be the work of living authors.
• Edited works, self-published books or manuscripts in process are not accepted.
• No poetry, children or young adult literature will be considered.
• Recipient must be present to receive the award and is expected to give a lecture.
• Deadline for submission is January 30, 2009.
Past prize recipients include:
Veronica Gonzalez
Reyna Grande
Gene Guerín
Mary Helen Lagasse
Sergio Troncoso
Ronald Ruíz
Wendell Mayo
Norma Cantú
Alicia Gaspar de Alba
Xican@ Poetry Daily 