Poets and poetry for el Cinco de Mayo

Plogging Cinco de Mayo with poetry by Mexican and Chicano poets...

Pobre poetas / Poor Poets  a/to Miguel Ángel Flores por/by Francisco X Alarcón

por las calles rondan poetas como pajaritos caídos del nido dan con los postes del alumbrado que de pronto les salen al paso ceremoniosos les piden permiso a las bancas vacias de los parques nadie sabe ni ellos mismos por qué en los homros les brotan alas un día quizá usen por fin esa llave que desde siempre traen en el bolsillo

poets go astray on the streets like chicks fallen from their nest they bump into light posts that without warning cross their path courteous as ever they ask empty park benches for permission to sit nobody knows not even they why wings sprout on their shoulders maybe one day they'll finally use that key they carry forever in their pocket

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"Motion/Movimiento" By Octavio Paz, Translated by Eliot Weinberger, from COLLECTED POEMS 1957-1987, copyright ©1986 by Octavio Paz and Eliot Weinberger. Poem selected by Lars Rydquist, head librarian, Nobel Library of the Swedish Academy.

Movimiento Si tú eres la yegua de ámbar               yo soy el camino de sangre Si tú eres la primer nevada               yo soy el que enciende el brasero del alba Si tú eres la torre de la noche               yo soy el clavo ardiendo en tu frente Si tú eres la marea matutina               yo soy el grito del primer pájaro Si tú eres la cesta de naranjas               yo soy el cuchillo de sol Si tú eres el altar de piedra               yo soy la mano sacrílega Si tú eres la tierra acostada               yo soy la caña verde Si tú eres el salto del viento               yo soy el fuego enterrado Si tú eres la boca del agua               yo soy la boca del musgo Si tú eres el bosque de las nubes               yo soy el hacha que las parte Si tú eres la ciudad profanada               yo soy la lluvia de consagración Si tú eres la montaña amarilla               yo soy los brazos rojos del liquen Si tú eres el sol que se levanta               yo soy el camino de sangre

Motion If you are the amber mare               I am the road of blood If you are the first snow               I am he who lights the hearth of dawn If you are the tower of night               I am the spike burning in your mind If you are the morning tide               I am the first bird's cry If you are the basket of oranges               I am the knife of the sun If you are the stone altar               I am the sacrilegious hand If you are the sleeping land               I am the green cane If you are the wind's leap               I am the buried fire If you are the water's mouth               I am the mouth of moss If you are the forest of the clouds               I am the axe that parts it If you are the profaned city               I am the rain of consecration If you are the yellow mountain               I am the red arms of lichen If you are the rising sun               I am the road of blood

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And a by no means inclusive sampler of Mexican / Chicano poets

• Sor Juana de la Cruz
• Octavio Paz (also biographer of Sor Juana)
  
• José Emilio Pacheco
• Francisco X. Alarcón
• Jimmy Santiago Baca
• Lorna Dee Cervantes
• Rafael Guillen (better known as Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos)
  

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Possibly Sor Juana's best known sonnet - a single sentence in Spanish, sometimes titled "la nada"

Procura desmentir los elogios que` a un retrato de la poetisa inscribió la verdad, que llama pasión Este, que ves, engaño colorido, que del arte ostentando los primores, con falsos silogismos de colores es cauteloso engaño del sentido;      éste, en quien la lisonja ha pretendido excusar de los años los horrores, y venciendo del tiempo los rigores triunfar de la vejez y del olvido,      es un vano artificio del cuidado, es una flor al viento delicada, es un resguardo inútil para el hado:      es una necia diligencia errada, es un afán caduco y, bien mirado, es cadáver, es polvo, es sombra, es nada.

She disavows the flattery visible in a portrait of herself, which she calls bias      These lying pigments facing you, with every charm brush can supply set up false premises of color to lead astray the unwary eye.      Here, against ghastly tolls of time, bland flattery has staked a claim, defying the power of passing years to wipe out memory and name.      And here, in this hollow artifice — frail blossom hanging on the wind, vain pleading in a foolish cause,      poor shield against what fate has wrought — all efforts fall and in the end a body goes to dust, to shade, to nought.

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Chicano poetry is written by and primarily about Mexican Americans and the Mexican-American way of life in the society. The term "Chicano" is a political and cultural term of identity specifically identifying people of Mexican descent who are born in the United States, whether offspring of Latinos who either emigrated to the United States or descendants of those involuntarily included in 1848. It is written in English, Spanish, or any combination thereof (including Spanglish).

Just as Latin American literature is both diverse and possessing a unity remarkable for the many countries and geographic span it covers, Chicano poetry does not exist in isolated disconnect from either Latin American poetry or that splendidly mind-blowing body Latin American poetry.