Category Archives: Uncategorized

Eight poets/teachers/critics respond in writing to the magazine OCHO # 15, presenting a rich composite review. Anne Caston, Merrill Leffler, Grace Cavalieri, Mary F. Morris, Ed Zahnizer, Whitney Smith, Laura Orem, Hope Maxwell-Synder

“This is the city and I am one of the citizens. Whatever interests the rest interests me” – Walt Whtiman

Walt on my mind as I work through an unexpected phase in my work where I take on the lone line and (as Barb points out) have to bring my “I” into the forefront.

Mind you, I am no Whitman scholar and have only made it through bits and pieces of “Leaves of Grass” but as an American poet I feel Whitman all around me and have heard traces of his voice in so much of the work that has brought me to my current stage of poetic development. A stage that I would not have imagined myself in a week ago but the inspiration (led on by a looming deadline) hits and then that recessive Whitman DNA gene kicked in.

Sidenote: The Whitman DNA gene reference comes from Philip Levine’s excellent introduction to Imago, Joseph O. Legaspi’s first collection of poems.

Sidenote 2: See the Projects in the accompanying photo? That’s where I grew up. Jus thought I would slip in some of that BX pride and throw another shout out to Vogelium, the same photographer whose work is on the cover of Anywhere Avenue.

from And God said “Vaya”

I should have been sound asleep, or at least pretending to be, pretending not to hear what goes on at night
Instead I was watching my ceiling change from light grey to dirty white and figuring out a name for this new color
Then I heard that familiar firecracker snap, it went inside me and wouldn’t leave, all stuck in my ears
Then I could taste a spoonful of ash in my mouth like the way you pull on that last little bit of cigarette
My body went all into shakes as if the bullet was inside me trying to get out, hitting every joint it could find
I swear the whole City must have felt it, from here to Brooklyn and back again, this one long bullet
But the night said different, the night was a calm flat lake, the night acted like it didn’t hear a thing
The City was the same way, I was hoping someone else would come out and say something

§
That question is what’s got me motivated enough to walk all over the Bronx in the dead of the night
I’m trying to figure out what happened to that bullet: Where’d it go? Stuck in some wall? Stuck in somebody?
What is it’s still up in the air waiting to drop on some fool? Some poor fool looking for God where their ain’t even a clean subway

§
I am thinking that I am in the right place, this is where that single bullet from last night is waiting to meet me
The rust is growing inside me with every breath, when I exhale it gathers up on the broken slide next to me
I used to be able to ride down on the silver back of this slide on my heels like a plane cutting through clouds
Now I’m scared of gravity, of what it’s doing to me, the way it’s bringing down my home, the way it tumbles buildings
The way it’s pulling my body closer to a dead City and farther from God, who has decided to forget about this place

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
January 14, 2008
Contact: elena minor 1. 800. 282. 5608 palabralit@earthlink.net

PALABRA ISSUE 3 RELEASED

Just released and ready for the reading, the new issue of PALABRA A Magazine of Chicano & Latino Literary Art is filled with a diverse assortment of fiction, poetry and drama that is wistful, intense, contemplative, searing, fresh-eyed, muscular, surprising and funny.

The latest issue (No. 3) features new poetry by

Margarita Engle
Carolina Monsiváis
María Luis Arroyo
Alfar
Damacio García
Marielena O. Gómez

Also included are a novel excerpt by Richard Yañez,
a new play by Caridad Svich
and short fiction from Marisela Norte, Louis Reyna, Nick Padron and Daniel Chacón.

With the release of its third issue, PALABRA continues its quest to showcase an eclectic array of new and established Chicano and Latino literary voices speaking in a wide range of styles—writing as distinct and varied as the experiences that created them.

PALABRA is available through its website: www.palabralitmag.com and at:

Imix Bookstore – Los Angeles, CA – www.imixbooks.com
Tianguis – Chicago, IL – www.tianguis.biz
Trópico de Nopal Gallery – Los Angeles, CA – www.tropicodenopal.com
REDCAT – Los Angeles, CA – www.redcat.org

ETA: Francisco Aragón interviews elena minor at the Letras Latinas Blog

Robert Vasquez, author of Braille for the Heart (Momotombo Press), on the importance of revision, editing and workshop.

Not surprisingly, the best reason for anyone to take a creative writing workshop is to expose him- or herself to the heated, at times painful comments offered by mentors and friends (and these should be friends in the truest sense and not enablers: The workshop should never adhere to the Zenith Chamber of Commerce’s motto: “Don’t knock! Boost!”). And such harsh criticism should always be concerned with what’s on the page, not with authors’ personalities or the latest “schools of poetry.” Therefore, each workshop participant should be free to eavesdrop, a wonderful gift even if the recipient can’t initially appreciate it as he or she winces or groans–and resists the urge to defend his or her work.

I love reading posts like this where the opinions are based on personal/professional experience with the desire to improve the state of poetry for everyone; poets and audience. Palabra.

Some poems from Braille for the Heart, along with information on ordering the chapbook, can be found here.

Romney Surrogate: ‘This is 1976’
Note to Jim Talent: The GOP lost in ’76.

Baltimore Sues Wells Fargo for Subprimes
Speaking of 1976, the above article brings up how the destruction of a neighborhood is no random accident.

Specifically, I am seeing this quote
“When you have foreclosures, the property values drop, and you get less tax revenue. There’s fire and police costs that come from abandoned and boarded-up and vacant properties…”
and all I can think is of “benign neglect” and how the Politicos were all set to turn the Bronx into a giant parking lot.

And what stopped them? The election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 and his subsequent visit to Charlotte Street.

In the immortal words of Grand Puba:

What goes around comes back around again…
S.O.S., is you wit me?