As Groucho sang, "I have come just to say I must be going." Compays, personal needs require that I take a new role with La Bloga, one where I will post as time and circumstances allow. I would still love to hear about your novel, poetry joint, your visual art, and I hope to continue to offer occasional interviews and personal rants. But the frequency will have to be much less often, at least for the near future. You can always contact me through my site: lisaalvarado.net, and [email protected]., and I hope you do.
I am hugely humbled and grateful for the chance to share my scribbling, my POV, to interview and review awe-inspiring work. La Bloga has given me a way to be up close and personal with the likes of Martin Espada, Demtria Martinez, Achy Obejas, Margo Tamez, Luis Rodriguez, and a galaxy of writers and artists. Although I hope to be here in a different way, you will be continue to be regaled, illuminated, challenged, entertained and delightfully provoked with the writing of : Annette Leal Mattern Viva Liz Vega! tatiana de la tierra Olga Garcia Echeverria Daniel Olivas Rene Colato Lainez Lydia Gil Manuel Ramos Ann Hagman Cardinal msedano.
I'd like to end this post with some quotes about that which I love best:
A poet can survive everything but a misprint. ~ Oscar Wilde
Poetry is not a profession, it is a destiny. ~ Mikhail Dudan
Poetry is all that is worth remembering in life. ~ William Hazlitt
Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. ~ Percy Shelley
My favorite poem is the one that starts 'Thirty days hath September” because it actually tells you something. ~ Groucho Marx
Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. ~ Percy Byshe Shelley
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. ~ from Dead Poet's Society
A poet's autobiography is his poetry. Anything else is just a footnote. ~ Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Hasta Pronto, Lisa Alvarado
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For M
It's about peace in the body.
The little miracle of how we undo each other as we make love.
And undone, we let go for a sliver of time
the days of disappointment.
Burdens and betrayals knotting nerve and sinew and bone
dissolve in the O of our mouths.
Arms around each other.
Circle of skin.
We breathe together,
simple and clear.
Stillness in your smile, my smile.
Stillness and then laughter.
Prayer
I need to lie on cool, wet ground;
so the earth can sing to me.
If I am small, and still,
the grass will chant its secrets.
I feel hollow and lost.
I need green to fill me, to feed me.
I am sick of the taste of compromise;
of work for money only.
I am empty from worry
and my fear of losing you.
I need the touch of bark,
and the arms of trees.
I need to climb to fruit and flowers,
and trust I will not fall.
My prayer books
are crumbled and dry.
No church will hold me.
I look to ritual,
unadorned and simple.
I ask the Woman who is everywhere,
Heal me.
Lisa Alvarado
Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Your humble writer this week was blessed had the task of trying to fill the shoes of Johanny Vazquez, at this month's Palabra Pura. La Divina is in Puerto Rico where I'm sure she's enjoying family and holding court. In a bedrock venue of Chicago's Mexican community, Decima Musa, Palabra Pura offered two dynamic poets, and the pre-show conversation was a lively, full-bodied discussion on female aesthetics and female presence on stage. The evening resonated with work that puts flesh on the bone, that breathes a sense of everyday spirituality and working-class nobility into their work.
Naomi Ayala is the author of This Side of Early (Curbstone Press, 2008) and Wild Animals on the Moon (Curbstone Press, 1997). Her third collection of poems is forthcoming from Bilingual Review Press in 2009. Ayala’s work has appeared in numerous journals and has been anthologized in Seeds of Fire: Contemporary Poems from the Other USA (Smokestack Books/U.K., 2008), Boriquén to Diasporican: Puerto Rican Poetry from Aboriginal Times to the New Millennium (University of Massachusetts Press, 2007), The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press, 2007), and Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature (Longman, 2005). Ayala works as an education consultant (with a specialty in curriculum design and development), a translator, and teacher, and is currently serving as the Director of Development for Fiesta DC.
From Consortium, about This Side of Early...These poems straddle two landscapes—contrasting the imprints of gentrification with the supernal, come by way of the woods. Ayala’s poems deconstruct the political world of man, offer hope through a compelling, lyrical spiritual intimacy, and bridge the gap between the two with words full of ecological intensity. Her deep connections with the working class combine with a love of the land to offer us lilt and dream, revelation and foretelling. Many of the "seeings" she brings us walk the edge of cultural resilience, where the illusion we see of the outside world speaks to us most when we turn within.
Diana Pando is a megaphone for Latinos in the arts. She has been Managing Director of Teatro Vista, Interim Managing Director for Teatro Luna, and worked with Luna Negra Dance Theatre and DeLaTorre Fine Arts. Through Teatro Vista she has been able to initiate dialogue between communities and arts groups resulting in youth outreach programs in the Back of the Yards neighborhood and increased Latino theatre in Little Village. She is one of the founding members of Proyecto Latina, a collaborative between Teatro Luna and Tianguis Bookstore and former contributing writer for Dinero Magazine. She has contributed writing to Teatro Luna's critically acclaimed show MACHOS, Lunaticas, collaborated with artist Luis DeLaTorre and maintains a blog called Art Botanas for Latinos in the arts.
She is a member of the Latina Leadership Council for the Chicago Foundation for Women. This October she will be the featured reader at Proyecto Latina hosted at RadioArte. Currently, she works with the Community Media Workshop helping nonprofits tell their stories. She is a lifelong resident of the Bridgeport neighborhood where she resides with artist Luis DeLaTorre and their dog Cometa
READING IS FUNDAMENTAL
Focus on Your Community
Support the fledgling Chicago Public Schools Literacy Program, Padres a Padres, which in turn supports the Latino community. The program serves 3 and 4 year old children who do not have other available preschool options. The program is unique in that the parents are in the classroom learning how to read books to their children to instill a love for reading and learning in their children. Twice a week, along with other activities, the teacher reads a book to the class and the children get to take a new hardcover copy of the same book home with them. The class is taught in Spanish and all books are Spanish language.
The program also includes an outing to the local library and home visits by CPS staff. This program has a wonderful parenting component and focuses on closing the book gap ('well-off' kids have hundred of children's books in their homes; 'poor' kids have only a handful). Your book donations have helped to support this program. Luz Maria Solis, the program administrator at CPS, (CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS) just reported to that nearly 25% of this year's Padres a Padres class have been accepted to the Orozco Regional Gifted Center for English-Language Learners.
If you would like to continue to support this Chicago Public Schools collaborative initiative (CPS partners with the Chicago Park District and Chicago 's museums for Padres a Padres), please consider purchasing one or more new Spanish language hardcover books.
Book Donations:
Oso Pardo and Oso Panda books - available at Amazon.com
Buenas Noches Luna - available at Amazon.com
If you are ordering the books online, please have them shipped directly to:
Luz Maria Solis
Chicago Public Schools
125 S. Clark St., 9th floor
Chicago, IL 60603
Phone: (773) 553-2019
... and put "Donation for the Padres a Padres Program from [your name]" in the gift message.
Feel free to call Luz Maria Solis if you prefer to make a cash donation or are interested in selecting a different book title from the Padres a Padres curriculum.
AND FROM MI NIETO, RICH VILLAR y ACENTOS
Greetings all.
Acentos is pleased to announce the inaugural issue of the ACENTOS REVIEW, a new journal of writing by Latino and Latina authors. It is online right now at http://www.acentosreview.com.
Seven poets and one visual artist grace the June 2008 issue:
Ray Gonzalez
Rachel McKibbens
Sheila Maldonado
Christina Olivares
Jose Olivarez
Mundo Rivera
Griselda Suarez
Visual: "Man With A Guitar," by Alexandra Cespedes
The poets represented here comprise a remarkable mosaic of emerging and established Latino and Latina writers from different areas of the country. The work sprawls, breathes, bites, and turns. It demands. It is not easy. These are the poems we love, and these poets make beautiful conversation. They honor us with their presence and set a high bar for subsequent projects. Acentos sends its sincerest gratitude to each of them. Deepest thanks also to our co-editors Raina Leon and Eliel Lucero, who insisted that this project was doable and then willed it into reality.
Now then, a word about subsequent projects.
We are right now accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, interviews, and translation for the Latino Heritage Month issue (September 2008). See the submission guidelines for further details. We look forward to reading your work!
Log onto www.acentosreview.com and check out the fuss. We are extremely excited about this project, and we welcome your comments and queries: [email protected]. See you soon!
Vaya,
Rich Villar
for the Acentos crew.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Teatro Luna receives two Non-Equity Jeff Awards!
Teatro Luna wins two Jeffs for Machos: Best New Work and Outstanding Ensemble! These awards are extra exciting for us because they recognize what we value most about our work: creating original ensemble based shows. Machos was a huge community effort and so this award goes out to a lot of people: the 100 men who contributed stories for the show, the 20 women who collaborated on writing the show, the 45 people who transcribed hours of interviews, and of course... to the uber-talented cast of Machos, a bunch of ladies who worked hard to learn how to be men. Felicidades to our big Luna Family!
Lisa Alvarado
Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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copyright Maria Arango 2008
Dear Reader: First of all, much love and congratulations to Daniel Olivas for the gorgeous work of Latinos in Lotus Land, and to Manuel Ramos, whose poetry continues to garner well-deserved attention and acclaim. (Ay, I am one lucky writer -- Michael, Manuel, Rudy, Rene and Ann make me bring (I hope) my best self every week....)
And if you only have limited reading time DO NOT HESITATE to buy the following books of poetry:
The Republic of Poetry -- Martín Espada
187 Reason Why Mexicans Can't Cross The Border -- Juan Felipe Herrera
Teeth -- Aracelis Girmay
Raven Eye and Naked Wanting -- Margo Tamez
I Praise My Destroyer -- Diane Ackerman
The Wind Shifts -- edited by Francisco Aragón
and Full Woman, Fleshly Apple, Hot Moon --- because if you're not reading Pablo Neruda, there is something seriously wrong with you
Personal Notes:
I'd be kicking myself for a very long time if I didn't share with you some wonderful news. I have recently signed a contract with Floricanto Press for the release of a volume of poetry, Raw Silk Suture, edited by Carlos Mock, author of Papi Chulo. This project has been blessed by Carlos' unflagging support, the wonderful layout by Bill Rattan and by the phenomenal illustrations by woodcut artist, Maria Arango. Advance copies should be ready mid-summer, with a full release scheduled in September.
Here are two advance quotes about the project I am very gratified to have received.
Alvarado's call for "a quiet remaking of cells" is northing short of revolutionary. Read this book, look at yourself and the world around you and know: anything is possible.
Demetria Martinez, author, Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana.
The poetry of Lisa Alvarado thunders across the page.Fiery and smoky, these are poems for midnight whiskey and pre-dawn espresso. These are poems for what ails us.
Manuel Ramos, Moony's Road to Hell, Author La Bloga, Founder and Columnist
RECLAMO
En este sueño
estoy completa.
No tengo que guardar
las historias de otra gente.
No tengo que buscar y escudriñar
a través de los restos de sus palabras.
En este sueño
paso mis dedos
através de la cabellera de Frida.
Con esa cabellera,
tejo flores obscuras
del color de la sangre.
Y me dice
que el jaguar viene a traerme
su poder.
La medicina que calma este dolor
es como comida para
calmar esta hambre.
En este sueño
hago magia
con el lodo del Rio Grande.
Arropado en corridas y música ranchera,
que son el hechizo y el encanto
que anula la edad
del olvido y el adoctrinamiento.
En este sueño
tengo un amante
cuya cara es de piedra,
como el antiguo marcador del templo.
Su boca es carnosa,
sus ojos están entrecerrados y
murmura:
Ven conmigo mi India,
mi pequeña perdida.
Recuerda quien eres.
Recuerda quien eres.
MEXICO: 90 DAYS AND COUNTING OR YOU
REALLY CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN
iridescent electric pink
bougainvillea
line the boulevard
next to where
someone’s pissing
right in the middle of the day
yesterday’s pozole
slick and greenish
stains the street
around the corner
from the Monument to the Revolution
where a golden angel
looks down on prostitutes
with imitation Chanel bags
and taxis are
green and yellow beetles
carrying sour businessmen
who ask the teenage pimps
how much
the cross-eyed
boy in the Lucha Libre mask
stares at me
and runs past barefoot beggar children
in clown makeup
but the clowns never smile
and they’re on every corner
they block the path
of women going to work
wearing not quite
put together
cheap copies
of clothes they saw
in Vogue or Cosmo
but nothing really matches
they always wear
white heels
or a belt with a giant buckle
and the requisite miniskirt that makes
their ass stand out
so that the pesero driver
with one gold tooth
always holds their change for just that extra second
I don’t get the shits
but baby-faced doctors run IV’s in both arms
for migraines and food poisoning
the fat man who served me
chiles rellenos
laughed at my buzz cut
and winked
when he slid me the plate
outside the ER
stand private guards
with tight lips and clenched pistols
working their job
they scowl at the howling sushi delivery boys
on motorbikes
who rush to the bar for a quick one
in between deliveries
inside the Museo Bellas Artes
I see the outstretched arms of Rivera’s peasants
and refuse the outstretched arms
of the Indian sitting at the bus stop
I clutch my postcards
with Frida’s self-portraits
the one with the red dress
the one with the hammer and sickle body brace
down the street from my favorite helado stand
the one with flavors like
guayaba mango cajeta
a man grabs my crotch
to see if I have any balls
I almost knock over
a tianguis stand of charro Barbies
the seller’s daughter
a girl with an olive oval face
blinks her long lashes in disbelief
What is this American doing here?
Thursday, April 24: 7 PM, Studio Theatre, College of the Arts, California State University, Long Beach, CA. Contact: Víctor Rodríguez, 562-985-8560; [email protected].
Friday, April 25: 8 PM, Fé Bland Auditorium, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA. Contact: David Starkey, 805-965-0581, X2345; [email protected].
Thursday, May 1: Lecture, 7 PM, The Redemption of Pablo Neruda, Centennial Hall, Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, WI. Contact: Sandra Rusch Walton, 414-286-
3000; [email protected].
Friday, May 2: Reading, 7 PM, Woodland Pattern Book Center, Milwaukee, WI. Contact: Chuck Stebelton, 414-263-5001; [email protected];
www.woodlandpattern.com.
Saturday, May 3: Reading, 7 PM, Escape Java Joint, Madison, WI. Contact: Allen Ruff, 608-257-6050; 608-255-0240; [email protected].
Lisa Alvarado
I'm sure your Guardian Muse has you in her sights, Lisa. Looking forward to what comes when the wind changes again.
mvs
Much love and many abrazos I am sending your way from L.A., Lisa. We have been enriched and entertained by your presence on La Bloga. And we await with anticipation your future posts which might be infrequent but no less satisfying.
You say goodbye, I say hello. Thank you for all you brought to La Bloga, and will bring again. You made quite an impact. Abrazos,
Manuel
Thanks for all your support for La Bloga and for your wonderful posts. This is your casa.
I can't think of anything better than what the other boys said, Lisa, so I'll just wish you, if not a peaceful life, then the peace to enjoy each moment.
And send tus pensamientos y sentimientos whenever you wish, however you wish.
RudyG
This is very sad news. Thank you for your commitment to our community of writers. Thank you for your generosity of spirit. Thank you for your sharp eye and your sensitive ear. Thank you for everything. I'll be rooting for a comeback.