Melinda Palacio
La Bloga sat down with Richard Vargas. His thorough answers on being a poet offers an important roadmap for anyone thinking about taking up the writing life. I especially enjoyed his quoting of John F. Kennedy, and, most of all, Richard's poems; I was honored to read his new book in manuscript format. It such a great feeling to see a project of this magnitude take shape and become a book you can hold in your hands, carry in your bag, and read on the streetcar. But don't take my word for it, experience this Q&A, then click away and buy Richard's newest book of poems: Guernica, revisited.Don't be surprised if you find yourself looking up his earlier books, published by Tia Chucha Press.
Mark your calendar: Richard Vargas features at Avenue 50 Studios August 10.
Melinda Palacio:
How did you meet your editors? Did you submit your book through a contest?
Richard Vargas:
I met Pam Uschuk and William Pitt Root for the first time when they visited a poetry workshop at University of New Mexico. I think it was the fall of 2008, my first semester in the Creative Writing MFA program. The workshop was facilitated by Joy Harjo, and at her invitation they stopped by to discuss poetics and lead us in a writing exercise. Since then, Pam has contributed to the poetry magazine I publish and edit, TheMás Tequila Review, on more than one occasion, and Will let me reprint his classic long poem, “Night Letter to the Mujahadeen,” in issue #5.
My manuscript came to their attention after a prestigious small press had sat on it for about a year, only to pass it up. I was thoroughly frustrated, since it had been turned down several times in the last three years. I was at the end of my rope, so I reached out to several friends and contacts on Facebook, asking for advice. Many came through with recommendations, but many of the presses they mentioned had already rejected my manuscript. Pam suggested I send it to her since she knew my work and thought the press who published much of her work would be interested. But within a few days she wrote back to say she really liked the collection of poems, and suggested making it a part of the Silver Concho Poetry Series for Press 53. She and Will direct the series for the press. She became a strong advocate for the book, and Will stepped in to work with me as my editor. I quickly found out that while the material was strong, the manuscript wasn’t print ready. Not by a long shot. Will worked long hours combing it over for errors and inconsistencies. No one put in that kind of time with my first two books, and his efforts really paid off. The result was a tighter, professional version of the original. I’m proud of how it turned out, and thank William Pitt Root for his editorial skills and sharp eye.
MAP:
What did you most enjoy about putting together your new book?
RV:
Well, the enjoyable part is now; giving readings, promoting, stepping out to meet new faces and adding to my audience. Unlike the publication of my other two books, this time I have the resources to do some traveling, so I am reaching out to bookstores and literary venues in cities I’ve never had the chance to visit, as well as my old haunts and stomping grounds. And since I’ve created a network of poets across the country whom I’ve published in The Más Tequila Review, I’m looking forward to meeting some of them face to face as I hit the road. It’s going to be a good time. A celebration of the new book, a celebration of the Gerald Locklin Poetry Prize we just awarded in the current issue ($300,) and the Margaret Randall Poetry Prize we’re awarding in the next issue ($500.)
MAP:
Did you have control over the cover?
RV:
Yes! The cover is a strong statement, and visually appealing. Just before Pam and Will accepted Guernica, revisited,for the Silver Concho Poetry Series, I came across an interview Mother Jones magazine published, (http://www.motherjones.com/media/2013/06/pakistani-drone-art-mahwish-chishty) featuring a Pakastani artist who was using her country’s folk-art to depict U.S. drones, provoking and adding to the debate about our government’s use of these killing machines and their effect on her people. I had recently changed the title (the last of many title changes) of the manuscript to Guernica, revisited, a poem I wrote about the aftermath of a drone strike. It was written upon my feature reading at an art exhibit in Albuquerque, called Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan. (http://windowsandmirrors.org/exhibit/albuquerque-nm) The art work by Kabul high school students left me speechless and numb. And I was honored to have my poetry paired with their vision of the world. I felt like I was speaking out for them, in their absence.
So I reached out to the journalist who interviewed Mahwish Chishty, and he put me in touch with her. I explained the circumstances that led to composing my title poem, and asked for permission to use one of her images for my cover art. She graciously agreed, and I was ecstatic! What a gift. The image sets the tone of the book and I feel truly blessed. We’ve discussed collaborating, a showing of her artwork accompanied by a reading from my book. We are looking for a gallery interested in working with us. Originally I wanted to launch the book in this manner, but there just wasn’t enough time to set it up. But I feel it would be an event worth the time and energy to organize and promote.
MAP:
Your poems are political and represent the social milieu around you. You've also talked about being an armchair activist through your poetry. What is your current view as an activist poet and how has this changed.
RV:
Yeah, they are. And there are those who will rail against mixing art with politics, proclaiming that it is an aberration, a distraction from the pursuit of the universal quality of beauty, or nature, or the spiritual. But once someone states that their art is apolitical, they have just made a political statement. There is no getting away from it. Every waking day of our lives, we are being affected by political actions and decisions being made all around us, near and far away. Every time I wanted to push away from the table, convinced that no matter what I do, say, or write, the die has been cast and what’s going to happen is already written in the books, I find myself drawn back into the fray. A people who are complacent and watch their local and federal governments condone acts of social injustice and atrocities at home and abroad, deserve their fate. And sooner or later, it does come home to roost. Yeah, I’m on a soap box right now, but this quote from John F. Kennedy always comes to mind when I get on this subject: “When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstones of our judgment. The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state.” He said it best.
MAP:
Is there anything else you'd like to share with La Bloga?
RV:
I want to take the time to thank you, Joy Harjo, and Demetria Martinez for blurbing the book. Such an impressive group of writers, and it makes me realize how lucky I am to be rubbing elbows with such a talented group of artists. The forward was written by my good friend, E.A. “Tony” Mares. I became aware of his poetry in the 1970s, when I was an undergrad at Cal State University, Long Beach. I took a couple of courses from the fledgling Chicano Studies program, and was introduced to an anthology titled, Festival de Flor y Canto: An Anthology of Chicano Literature. His poetry was among the contents, and I still have my copy. Upon moving to Albuquerque in 2002, I met Tony at readings, where we hit it off. He sat in on my dissertation committee, and has been a source of professional advice and encouragement for several years. We still get together for coffee and discuss the local and global state of affairs. During a time when he is exclusively concentrating on his own writing, he took the time to write an insightful and touching forward for the book, and I am honored and grateful.
Author’s website:
Author’s page, Press 53:
Floricantos On-Line for the Fallen Souls of Newton
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| La Bloga Festival of Lights 1 |
Somber exhilaration is in the air this week, with La Bloga's continuing exploration of poetry as equipment for living. Christmas changed forever when twenty-six souls disappeared from earth. They were gone, we mystified. It happened in our name, our nation, under our laws. Again. Naturally, we should sing. What more?
Ho Logos stepped out on space, looked around, and said "poor earth, so far from Peace, so close to the United States."
La Bloga this week elegizes the murdered children and their teachers, in two observances. Sunday, Amelia ML Montes teamed with California's Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Guest Editor, Marisa Urrutia Gedney, to present
UNITY of Poets for the Children and Families of Newtown, Connecticut—End the Violence. 10 Poems: December 15-December 21, 2012Navigate to
La Bloga-Sunday via this link to read the ten thoughts in entirety, and learn about Herrera's UNITY poem:
When you hustled your baby onto the busthat morning, it was Friday, the last day-Nicole Stefanko-Fuentes
These 26 acts of kindness seem to spark the holiday season,I think there is a flicker back in my flame.“Oh, this little light of mine…”-Melissa Carvalho (Danbury, CT)
20 little snowflakesFell to a red-covered groundWaiting for a bell to ringThey fell without a sound.-Jocelynn Cortes. 10th grade. Age 15
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| La Bloga Festival of Lights 2 |
Christmas Mourning FloricantoToday, the Moderators of
Poets Responding to SB 1070 share poems, outpourings of grief and love, about the loss of these children. Moderator Elena Bjorkquist writes, "we feel that these poems honor the memory of the innocent children and will help all of us with healing."
Children Fallen: Rise On New Wings, by Frank De Jesus Acosta
The Rosebuds Of Winter by Hedy Garcia Treviño
In The Afetrmath by Kathy Goldenladyhawk Risingdove Robinson
Twenty Angels by Raul Sanchez
When Words Are Just Vibrations, by John Martinez |
| La Bloga Festival of Lights 3 |
CHILDREN FALLEN: RISE ON NEW WINGSby Frank de Jesus AcostaChildren fallen: to violence, depravity, & war
Newtown, old towns, the world over, far too often
We betray your innocent trust failing to protect
Brutally torn from the flesh by monsters in our midst
Denied the journey of pain & healing from love
Laughter & songs turned screams of terror & tears
I feel you hiding in that place between light & shadow
Afraid, confused, & wandering between worlds
Shrouded heart; words that commune escape us
As we too wander, in suffocating sadness & confusion
Forgive our failure & betrayal, we bare the thorns
Little ones hear our prayers of peace now
Follow the ancestor songs to a new paradise
An eternal circle of love will embrace you from here
There is no more pain & wholeness in the spirit
Walk in beauty; dwell in new joy in a place of peace
A home in the heart of the Creator awaits you
The Rosebuds of Winterby Hedy Garcia TreviñoThere is a special place in the gardens of winter
For young tender rosebuds that fall off the vine
In that empty space we call sorrow
We gather to nurture the rosebuds of time
With showers of tears
And hopeful prayers
We await the abundance of blooms
Returning in springtime
Kissed by the sun
The blossom returns to the ground
To bring life once again to the gardens of time
IN THE AFETRMATH by Kathy Goldenladyhawk RisingDove Robinsonit is late
and i can not sleep
as my head spins
on the axis
of all evils in
this world.
it is late
and i try to think,
how can i
help to fix
that, which is
so broken.
so, i do now declare,
that in love,
i will love deeper,
in faith,
i will pray harder,
in honor of,
i will seek out the light
and laugh out the dark.
i will sleep less,
and live more,
i will dance, wildly
as the rain
washes away
the sorrows,
of life's brief moments
and stolen memories
and l will listen
with my heart,
and not skip a beat.
oh evils of this world,
oh darkness,
on you i do descend.
i will erase you with kindness,
compassion
and love...
i will challenge
your place
in this world.
twenty new angels
born
to join in the fight
to shine their bright light
and expose all
that is bad
in this world...
as i open my
heart,
and close my eyes
to see.
twenty new angels
to join in the fight
light the spark
to ignite
all the love
that there is
in this world.
TWENTY ANGELSby Raul SanchezIn memory of the kids from Sandy Hook Elementary SchoolTwenty Angels swept away
removed from this earth
senseless violence directed
at children shot point blank
the parents grief unimaginable
what pain to lose a child to violence
Twenty Angels gone, vanished
Twenty future builders of America
Twenty souls gone
Twenty beautiful faces disappeared
Twenty empty beds
Twenty dreams evaporated
no laughter, no Christmas presents
we mourn their death across
the nation, the world
we feel their loss as if they were our own
WHEN WORDS ARE JUST VIBRATIONSby John MartinezNothing makes sense
When a molecule bends
To cough,
Shirking its duty
To life,
When a book falls
To the ground,
Folding into itself,
Leaving only
A blank sadness
Nothing suggests
That we will survive
This terror,
Opening its black
Mouth again
In the classrooms,
Where our children grow
With little root feet
But out of this,
Heroes shielded
Their young,
Gave their lives
To save the very seed-
That is our future,
But some of it
Was lost
When words
Are just vibrations,
Because the wound
Is too deep,
We close our eyes,
Push our hearts
Into the heavens
Today the clouds
Mother the 20 children,
Fixing eternity
In white and blue pajamas,
Their innocence,
Soft as their feet,
Their fear being
Plucked from their hair
Like ash
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| La Bloga Festival of Lights 4 |
BIOSChildren Fallen: Rise On New Wings, by Frank De Jesus Acosta
The Rosebuds Of Winter by Hedy Garcia Treviño
In The Afetrmath by Kathy Goldenladyhawk Risingdove Robinson
Twenty Angels by Raul Sanchez
When Words Are Just Vibrations, by John Martinez
Frank de Jesus Acosta is the principal of Acosta & Associates, a California-based consultant group that specializes in providing professional support related to public and private social change ventures in the areas of children, youth, and family services, violence prevention, community development, cultural fluency initiatives across the country. Acosta is a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Acosta’s professional experience includes serving as a Program Director with The California Wellness Foundation, as well as executive leadership tenures with the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Downtown Immigrant Advocates (DIA), Center for Community Change, and the UCLA Community Programs Office. In 2007, Acosta was published by the Arte Publico Press, University of Houston, “The History of the Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos, Cultura Es Cura, Community Peace Movement.”
Hedy M. Treviño’s poetry has been published in numerous journals and other publications. She has performed her poetry at numerous cultural events. She continues to write poetry, and inspires others to use the written word as a form of self discovery and personal healing. She is one of the Moderators for the Facebook page, Poets Responding to SB 1070
Kathy GoldenLadyHawk RisingDove Robinson is half-Cherokee, from North Bridgton, Maine, a small rural town in the foothills of the White Mountains. She is an aspiring poet/writer...she lives quietly, in harmony with the natural world all around her; here she finds all the inspiration a soul could ask for. One day, she hopes to have a book of poems and writings published.
Raúl Sánchez, conducts workshops on The Day of the Dead. His most recent work is the translation of John Burgess’ Punk Poems in his book Graffito by Ravenna Press. His work appeared on-line in The Sylvan Echo, Flurry, Gazoobitales, Pirene’s Fountain many times in La Bloga and several journals. An avid collector of poetry books proclaimed himself a “thrift store junkie” who occasionally volunteers as a DJ for KBCS 91.3 FM, a community radio station. He has been a board member of the Washington Poets Association. His inaugural collection "All Our Brown-Skinned Angels" by MoonPath Press, is filled with poems of cultural identity, familial, a civil protest, personal celebration, completely impassioned and personal.
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| La Bloga Festival of Lights 5 |
José Antonio Villarreal: Pioneer of the Chicano Novel
Roberto Cantú
California State University, Los Angeles
José Antonio Villarreal (1924-2010) was a Mexican American writer who published three novels and many short stories in different anthologies throughout the past 50 years. His first novel Pocho was released in a hardcover edition by Doubleday in 1959.
Don José, as we called him affectionately, published The Fifth Horseman in 1974, and Clemente Chacón in 1984, novels which spotlight the life of Mexican families during the 1910 Mexican Revolution, or on the U.S.-Mexico border in modern times. Don José passed away near his beloved Mt. Shasta on January 13, 2010. His wife Barbara will host a June celebration for don José that includes family and close friends.
I first met José Antonio Villarreal in Los Angeles in 1973. I was a graduate student at UCLA and had selected the paperback edition of Pocho (1970) as a reading assignment while tutoring Chicana inmates detained at Corona Institute for Women. I had sent Villarreal a letter suggesting I work on a Spanish translation of Pocho and his response, written in a graceful and ornate script, was prompt: he informed me that if he needed a Spanish translation of his novel that he would do it himself. Shortly afterward a brief note arrived in the mail asking me to meet him at his sister’s house in Los Angeles. I accepted the invitation.
On our first meeting, I saw Richard Rubio in the adult Villarreal: contemplative, observant, a chain-smoker. I also noticed that on a nearby table stood a bottle of tequila; before our meeting, Villarreal had enjoyed half of its contents. In a semi-humorous tone, he pointed with a smoldering cigarette to the memory of several boxes with copies of the hardcover edition of Pocho he had stored in his garage for many years. Doubleday had paid him in part with hundreds of unsold copies of Pocho. After giving away free copies to neighbors and to most of his family, one day he ordered the remaining boxes to be disposed by the garbage collector. We did not talk about the translation, but I got the point. It was evident he didn’t think there would be any interest in Pocho in the Spanish-speaking world; after all, hardly anybody had noticed in the United States. Nobody had any interest in literature that represented Mexicans in the United States, he argued; besides, Villarreal’s mind was on other, more important projects: he was waiting for the publication of his second novel, The Fifth Horseman, where he recounted the life background of Heraclio Inés (known in Pocho as Juan Rubio), and the national conditions that led to the 1910 Mexican Revolution. He assured me that this was his best novel yet. We drank another glass of tequila and continued with our conversation. I would have to wait until the summer of 1993 for the opportunity to translate Pocho. Meanwhile things were turning hazy around me as I listened and sipped tequila, so I rushed a few questions.
Villarreal informed me that his decision to be a writer was reached shortly before graduating with a B.A. in English from UC Berkeley in 1950. His plan was to write a cycle of four novels—he referred to it as a tetralogy—that would constitute a vast social landscape depicting the dispersion of a Mexican family through thr
what i'm on
Luis Humberto Valadez
THE BOOK:
Publication Date: March 19, 2009
Camino del Sol: A Latina/Latino Literary Series 64 pages
6 x 8 ISBN: 978-0-8165-2740-3, $15.95 paperLuis Humberto Valadez is a poet/performer/musician from the south side of the Chicago area whose work owes as much to hip-hop as it does to the canon and has been described by esteemed activist writer Amiri Baraka as "strong-real light flashes."
His debut poetry collection what i'm on is frankly autobiographical, recounting the experiences of a Mexican American boy growing up in a tough town near Chicago. Just as in life, the feelings in these poems are often jumbled, sometimes spilling out in a tumble, sometimes coolly recollected. Valadez's poems shout to be read aloud. It's then that their language dazzles most brightly. It's then that the emotions bottled up on the page explode beyond words. And there is plenty of emotion in these poems. Sometimes the words jump and twitch as if they‚d been threatened or attacked. Sometimes they just sit there knowingly on the page, weighted down by the stark reality of it all.
José García put a thirty-five to memy mother was in the other room
He would have done us both
if not for the lust of my fear
THE BUZZ:
This new Mexican American/Chicano voice is all at once arresting, bracing, shocking, and refreshing. This is not the poetry you learned in school. But Valadez, who received his MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poets at Naropa University, has paid his academic dues, and he certainly knows how to craft a poem. It's just that he does it his way. Luis Humberto Valadez works as a coordinator and consultant for the Chicago Public Schools Homeless Education Program.
Recordings of Valadez performing his poems can be found at MySpace.com, Reverb Nation, and other Internet sites. VALADEZ BLURBS: “Brave, raw, and exposing of a young mans consciousness. Luis’s work is not confessional in the limited, put-it-in-a-box way that big publishers like to market their material to liberal guilt.” -Andrew Schelling, author of Tea Shack Interior“In voices colloquial and church, reverent and riotous, serious and sly; in rap and fragment, sound and sin; from gangs and minimum-wage jobs to astrology and Christ, Luis Valadez makes his fearless debut. This poetry is a painfully honest disclosure of identity and anger, and it is as mindful of falsity and as hard on itself as it is playful, loose, and loving. Sometimes the language is clear and cutting, while other times it disintegrates into sonic units and primal utterances: Luis calls upon the whole history of oral and verbal expression to tell his story—going so far as to write his own (wildly funny and disturbing) obituary.” —Arielle Greenberg, author of My Kafka Century“On the trail blazed by innovators like Harryette Mullen and John Yau, Luis Valadez sends wild, canny, charged, and vulnerable prayers from the hard camp of contested identities. Each line, each word, is a blow against “impossibility” and the heavy pressure to be silent as expected. Interrogations of tradition(s) as well as celebrations, the irresistible poems in Valadez’s first collection exist at the exact fresh moment of deciding to live and to love.” —Laura Mullen, author of After I Was Dead
“Valadez’s work is not simply fierce language poetics… here is a writer—the genuine article—whose style is that of a truth-speaking curandero, offering sacred cantos to anyone interested in illuminating that inner revolution called corazón. To read his work is to discover the future of American poética! “ —Tim Z. Hernandez, author of Skin Tax
“Valadez’s impressions abruptly transport the reader from swaggering elucidation to raw pain. In a sometimes-resigned glance around for divinity, what I’m on triggers equally sudden heart-rippings, laughter, and cinematic naturescapes.” —Claire Nixon, editor Twisted Tongue MagazineHolly Schaffer, Publicity Manager
University of Arizona Press
355 S. Euclid Ave., Ste. 103 Tucson, AZ 85719
Ph: 520-621-3920, Fx: 520-621-8899
[email protected]
www.uapress.arizona.eduTHE EVENT:
Lisa Alvarado
OSCAR MIRELES
OSCAR WITH OMEGA STUDENTS
THE REASON FOR ALL THE HARD WORK
Mireles has been Principal/Executive Director of Omega School, an alternative school in Madison, Wisconsin for over 11 years, and grassroots educational programs for a total of over 30 years. While at the helm at Omega School, he's assisted over 1500 young adults prepare for and complete their GED Diploma in the past decade. He is the father of four children, Diego Jesus, Sergio Andres, Lorena Pilar and Javier Oscar.Oscar Mireles started the Wisconsin Conference on Alternative Education which brought together alternative school administrators , students and teachers to discuss future goals and successful models. He was the first Latino parent to become PTO President of Gompers Elementary where he served for two years. His Wisconsin organizing has also included UW-Milwaukee and got the Community Media project using video cameras as tools for inner city youth to document their experiences. He also worked with Alverno College to present Hip Hop Poetry at the center bring Nuyorican Poets to Milwaukee.Mireles was also the Associate Executive Director of Centro de la Comunidad Unida/United Community Center where he helped establish the UCC Alternative Middle School (30 students) in conjunction with the Milwaukee Public Schools. He developed linkages as an affiliate with the National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) Educational Programs and piloted several family literacy and after-school enrichment programs in Milwaukee.
In short, Oscar has played a pivotal role in quality education for Latinos, for youth at risk and walks the walk of paying it forward and leaving a legacy. And if that weren't enough he's a poet and editor. Oscar and I share a common inspirational link--Martin Espada. But he's got some real time under his belt. He's been writing poetry for the past 25 years.
Oscar edited two anthologies: 'I didn't know there were Latinos in Wisconsin: 20 Hispanic Poets' (Focus Communications,1989) and 'I didn't know there were Latinos in Wisconsin: 30 Hispanic Writers' (Focus Communications,1999) . He produced a chapbook titled 'Second Generation' (Focus Communications,1985).
He's had over 50 poems published in anthologies and magazines including Gathering Place of the Waters: 30 Milwaukee Poets (1983) Revista Chicano-Riquena 'Hispanic Literature in Wisconsin' (1985), Visions and Voices against Apartheid (1987) Viatzlan, A journal of Arts and Letters (1992), Dreams and Secrets, Woodland Pattern (1998), Alt. Literature (2003), Telling Tongues: A Bilingual Anthology (2007).
Oscar's work has garnered him grants for his writing activities from the Wisconsin Arts Board, Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, Wisconsin Humanities Committee, Wisconsin 150th Sesquiscentennial Commission, Madison Civic Center Foundation and Wisconsin Center for the Book. He received a fellowship to spend a month at the Vermont Studio Center, an artist colony.
Mireles has done numerous readings at the following institutions: Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI., Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, Il., The Loft, Minneapolis, MN., Chicago Cultural Center, La Raza Bookstore, Sacramento, CA., Wisconsin Book Festival, Madison, WI., National Association for Chicano Studies, Ypsilanti, MI., University of California, Riverside, Riverside CA., Canterbury Bookstore, Madison, WI and Woodland Pattern, Milwaukee, WI. He's currently an artist member of the Minds Eye Radio collective, which produces a monthly radio show of spoken word poetry on WORT(Independent Community radio).
In 2009, Oscar Mireles will once again put together an anthology that brings to life the unique Latino voices of Wisconsin. “I didn’t know there were Latinos in Wisconsin: Three Decades of Writing” will capture the varying Midwestern voices of some 40 to 50 Latino poets and short fiction writers.
Featuring accomplished writers and new writers alike, this new anthology follows in the footsteps of its predecessors; “I didn’t know there were Latinos in Wisconsin: 20 Hispanic Poets,” published in 1989, and “I didn’t know there were Latinos in Wisconsin: 30 Hispanic Writers,” published in 1999.“It is a proclamation that we are here; that we do have a voice but it’s many voices,” Mireles said. “Those voices need to be heard.”While Mireles is still on the hunt for contributors to his newest anthology, he does know that the 2009 anthology will feature notables such as Martin Espada and Daisy Cubias.
To say nothing of his own inimitable work:
'Love Mexican Style' is not a reality television show
Mexico City is far more romanticthen I imaginedNot that I ever thinkof any city as being romanticbut there are more peoplewalking hand-in-handor embracing in front of the bus stopin the mid-afternoon sunfour cross hugging arms propped next to skinny tressto providea little shade and privacyIn the open airthe couple were stealing kisses beforethe next bus arrivesmaybe all the romanceis here in Mexico Citybecause it gets a little chilly at nightonce the sundisappearsor that everyone seemsto be built about the same sizefrom the earthor maybe reason is the older men, who are smilingall seem to have “pollitas”, women twenty years youngerstrapped to their sideor maybe the Latino loverin them finally starts to takes overI have even caught myself holding my wife’s handa little tighter then usual and wanting to kiss herharder then a peck smack on the lipsor maybe the natural rhythmsin meof old Mexicohave been awakened Oscar MirelesExecutive Director835 W. Badger Rd.Madison, WI 53713Phone (608) 256-4650Fax (608) 256-4651Cell (608) 577-5737[email protected]Lisa Alvarado
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Alena
http://dataentryjob-s.com
great post/poemas
Juanita y Elena y todos -- beautiful posts and poetry. What a sadness about Villarreal, a true visionary. And I vividly remember the mission in Santa Barbara. The familiarity was so intense, I continued to dream of living there in a long ago time...hmmn. And, Morenci, Elena, our home town. There are not enough tears that can be cried for it...