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)
At the Leon Springs Cafe
I once tried
to read my songs
of love and anger
at the Leon Springs Cafe
where some politically incorrect
Republican lady
kept shaking her head
each time I said,
“there’s no freedom,
in this here United States.”
And she did not confront me
but I clearly heard her say,
“Waiter, there’s a Chicano poet in my soup.”
Jose Montalvo
from Montalvo’s Welcome to My New World (1992), published by Saddle Tramp Publications.
“As a testimonial poet he speaks about the barrio while offering himself as an example of someone who has reached the state of a “mente concientizada” (socially aware mind), as Cecilio García-Camarillo described it in his introduction to Montalvo’s first collection of poetry.” Read the complete summary HERE at Bookrags.com
A Palm Tree
Lady of the winds,
heron of the plains,
when you sway
your being swings.
Gesture of prayer
or prelude to flight,
through your branches
the heavens flow.
From the dark land of men
I have come, on my knees, to behold you.
Tall, naked, singular.
Poetry.
Rosario Castellanos
Castellanos (25 May 1925 – 7 August 1974) was a Mexican poet and author. Along with the other members of the Generation of 1950 (the poets who wrote following the second world war, influenced by Cesar Vallejo and others), she was one of Mexico’s most important literary voices in the last century. [Source: Wikipedia]
Mírame Mujer by Juan Tejeda
mírame mujer
mírame mujer, aquí, aquí
mírame mujer
mírame mujer, aquí, aquí
solo no puedo
ganar la guerra
solo no quiero
vivir en nuestra tierra
mírame mujer
juntos podemos
ganar la guerra
juntos podemos
vivir en nuestra tierra
Solunamanecer
This poem was published in Juan Tejeda‘s chapbook Enamorado en la Guerra y Reconociendo la Tierra (M&A Editions, 1980). Juan teaches music at Palo Alto College in San Antonio, and he is the creator of the Tejano-Conjunto Festival en San Anto. He’s also been performing with the Xicano Movimiento group Conjunto Aztlan since 1977.
Featured Blog: Reyes Cardenas
The Enchanted Garden
My grandmother had a green thumb,
she could make rocks blossom,
and petunias sprout from pebbles.
The weeds would rush away from her,
giggling and flinging clods of dirt in haste.
Bugs would never eat her plants,
instead they headed to the neighbor’s yard,
hide if a bird flew overhead,
or garden rake in the toolshed,
an inexplicable glint in their eyes.
My grandmother had a green thumb,
the very dirt, if asked, turned into velvet.
Reyes Cardenas’ writings have been published in Caracol, El Grito, and Place of Herons Press. His books include Anti-Bicicleta Haiku, Survivors of the Chicano Titanic, Elegies For John Lennon, and I Was Never A Militant Chicano. They are available in ebook form from Alexander Street Press. Visit Reyes at chicanopoet.blogspot.com/
Visit Tex[t]-Mex for links to Domino Perez’s new UT Press book on “Chicanodom’s favorite wailing woman!”, as well as for info on San Anto artist Lizz Lopez.
Xican@ Poetry Daily 