Editor’s Choice
Francisco X. Alarcon (Mexico/USA)
Deep Song
after the passage of so many legal measures against undocumented workers -mostly Mexicans and Central Americans- throughout the U.S.
why do what papers you can
you spit does the Sun deny me
on my face? ever need? an education
what harm what crime blame
can I ever have dreams me for
do to you now become? everything
by having what law build
a brown denies the fruit another Berlin
soul? of my labor? Wall
how come why then but you
you throw do you steal never will
me out my calm? be able ever
after does my grief to extinguish
I’ve served give you this fire
you dinner any joy? this struggle
and folded does my poverty for life
the last make you burning
white sheets? richer? in my heart
Night
a cup of black
coffee spilled over
the Earth’s tablecloth
Lightning
sky
rooting
on the land
a tree
of light
in the dark
lasting
an instant
an eternity
announcing
a celestial
drumming
Leaf
the wind blew around
but the lone leaf on the tree
did not kiss the ground
Poetic Manifesto
each poem
is an act of faith
in the power
of the Word
a flower passed
hand to hand
and rooted
in the heart
a prayer/chant
lightning the night
a song amidst
so much noise
a murmur
of tree branches
at the very edge
of the big desert
breaking down
the borders of despair
sowing the seeds
of renewed hope
each poem is
a call for action
is saying”yes”
to the rule of”no”
a defiance
to social silence
building trust
in response to fear
a testimony
of the human soul
recognizing
that in spite all
our differences
and peculiarities
we all breathe
love and dream
celebrate and suffer
under the same one Sun
Summer Solstice
June 21, 2011
Let Us Be Gandhi
let us be Gandhi
artin Luther King Jr.
Nelson Mandela
bearers of peace
reason, tolerance, good will
not hatred, anger
let us never be
bullets but true healing hands
pressing bleeding wounds
run away from lions
and eagles, always content
to be butterflies-
from complete despair
sorrow, fear, pain, let us draw
new joy, trust, faith, hope
January 9, 2011
Francisco X. Alarcon (Mexico/USA). Chicano poet and educator, was born in Los Angeles, California. He is the author of ten volumes of poetry. His book of bilingual poetry for children, Animal Poems of the Iguazu / Animalario del Iguazu (Children’s Book Press 2008), was selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association, and as an Americas Awards Commended Title by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs. His bilingual book titled Poems to Dream Together / Poemas para sonar juntos, was published by Lee & Low Books, New York in Spring 2005, and was awarded the 2006 Jane Addams Honor Book Award. His bilingual book for children, Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems / Jitomates risuenos y otros poemas de primavera (Children’s Book Press, 1997) was awarded the 1997 Pura Belpre Honor Award by the American Library Association and the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal. He also received the 2000 Pura Belpre Honor Award for his second book of bilingual poems
Previously published in kritya old issues