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)
Call For Entries: Borderlands
Submit your work for publication in the upcoming issue of Borderlands. Since its debut in 1992, Borderlands continues to receive wide critical acclaim and garners a national readership. Submission deadline for the Spring/Summer 2009 issue is December 15, 2008.
Coatlicue’s Legacy by Ana Castillo
(Para las dicipulas)
I am Coatlicue’s daughter
and reigning princess
but sometimes I forget.
Sometimes someone puts a hand up
that falls hard against my face
and I forget
that within me
is the word and
tomorrow he’d be dead.
No doctor would have helped.
His mortal mother, beside herself.
Sometimes I forget
all I need to do is say it
think it
breathe it
dream it
and life is at the hem of my stone skirt,
a drifting feather
four hundred warriors strong.
It waits for me to spread my legs
wide as a wild-eyed spider
PUSH
heaven to hell
PUSH
God’s soul through me
PUSH
the sun down to China
PUSH
Earth’s axis round
like a spinning top.
And life is in my hands,
suckling at my breast,
thrives on the rhythm of my beating heart,
warmth of my throbbing belly.
Bite that cord or not
spit out the skeletons of bad boys
or shit them out–
who did not learn to honor
Woman,
but fear Her just the same.
Sometimes I forget
when I’ve been robbed and raped
to numbness
that mine is a terrible wrath.
And that blood begins
and stops between my legs.
–1997, Chicago
Ana Castillo
*Coatlicue: Principal Aztec deity, the formidable goddess of fertility and destruction
This poem is from Castillo’s poetry collection, I Ask the Impossible
Call For Submissions: Punto Poetry Project
PUNTO! Exclamations from Generations of Latina/o PoetsCalling You!
the spoken word artist, the poeta, the crazy performance poet, the storyteller of metaphors, the subtle experimental poet, all of yous, from the casa to the raza cosmica and everywhere in between the transglobal barrio, yes tú, are invited to submit your original poems, slam poems, performance poems, spoken word pieces to ¡PUNTO!: Exclamations from Generations of Latina/o Poets, edited by critically acclaimed, award winning poets, Jaime “Shaggy” Flores & Robert Farid Karimi.We seek original work by Latina/o, Chicana/o, Nuyorican writers, performance poets, and spoken word performers for a new intergenerational anthology of Latina& Latino spoken word, performance poetry.
¡PUNTO! aims to give space and voice to Latina/o writers who have helped birth the current evolution of poetry by weaving language, culture, & experiences into a tapestry of performance & poetry on the page. ¡PUNTO! poets display the multifaceted variety of a community that is on the forefront of literature and performance. ¡PUNTO! is an intergenerational book that will reflect the historic & expansive contribution of Latina/os to the art of performance & written poetry across the nation.
FAQ’s/Preguntas?
Questions about this project can be emailed to: someta@puntopoetry.com. Please indicate “anthology” or “preguntas” or “vulcan mind meld” in the subject line to avoid deletion of your email.Submissions
Must be postmarked no later than November 2, 2008 (Yes, we know it’s Sunday :) )
Y por favor, please make sure to remember your ancestors on this day..
Visit La Nueva Raza for more details
All the earth is a grave and nothing escapes it…
All the earth is a grave and nothing escapes it,
nothing is so perfect that it does not descend to its tomb.
Rivers, rivulets, fountains and waters flow,
but never return to their joyful beginnings;
anxiously they hasten on the vast realms of the rain god.
As they widen their banks,
they also fashion the sad urn of their burial.
Filled are the bowels of the earth
with pestilential dust once flesh and bone,
once animate bodies of man who sat upon thrones,
decided cases, presided in council, commanded armies,
conquered provinces, possessed treasure, destroyed temples,
exulted in their pride, majesty, fortune, praise and power.
Vanished are these glories, just as the fearful smoke vanishes
that belches forth from the infernal fires of Popocatepetl.
Nothing recalls them but the written page.Nezahualcóyotl
Nezahualcoyotl (Classical Nahuatl: Nezāhualcoyōtl pronounced [nesawaɬˈkojoːtɬ], (meaning “Coyote in fast” or “Coyote who Fasts”) (April 28, 1402 – June 4, 1472) was ruler (tlatoani) of the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian Mexico. Unlike other high-profile Mexican figures from the century preceding the Spanish Conquest, Nezahualcoyotl was not a Mexica; his people were the Acolhua, another Nahuan people settled in the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico, settling on the eastern side of Lake Texcoco. ~Wikipedia
The ‘Offical’ Exquisite Corpse Psalm for Andrei Codrescu
The Lord is my editor,
I shall not wander in streams of consciousness,
He checks my grammar, syntax, and ellipsis,
He proofs and types to put me at ease,
He reissues good copy,
out of print books
and articles.
He is my sole distributor.
Carlos Cumpián
Cumpián was named among the Chicago Public Library’s “Top Ten” most requested poets and his poetry has been published in small press magazines as well as numerous anthologies. He has taught at Columbia College in Chicago and has offered workshops on poetry and small press management. His books Latino Rainbow (Grolier/Children’s Press), Armadillo Charm (Tia Chucha Press) and Coyote Sun (March Abrazo Press) have received positive reviews for their contributions to Chicano literature.
Cumpián is also the editor of March Abrazo Press and has been instrumental in the longevity of the small press and establishing its presence as an independent publisher of Latino and Native American poetry.” ~Wikipedia
Xican@ Poetry Daily 