21 May 2014

Alejandro Murguía. Poesía chicana (2)


O CALIFORNIA

se fueron
por el camino real
ese largo y triste camino de eucaliptos
en carretas con burros
un montón de frijol y maíz
y llegaron en lowered down chewys
with gafas fileros
speaking about the low life
tomando botellas de tequila
que decían Made in Mexico
hablando tres palabras en inglés
apple pie y coffee
cantando
Vámonos a California
Vámonos a California

se iban
por el alambre
indios de calzón blanco y huarache
y aterrizaban
pochos pachucos perdidos
vatos locos con tatuajes mágicos
de vida y muerte
esperando en las esquinas el big hit
the 5 & 10 of caliente race track
that never came
cantando calladitos por las calles iban
Vámonos a California
Vámonos a California

they came
from New York
New York the big apple
to the big orange
Yorubas Jíbaros Borinquens
regando las calles de bacardí
piel color café oscuro
ojos de verde cocodrilo
y un tun-tun de tambores
de viejas selvas ancestrales
que alguna vez fueron
pero ahora con mil memorias
de viajes mal pagados
Vámonos a California
Vámonos a California
Vámonos a California


O CALIFORNIA

they went
along the Camino Real
that long and sad road of eucalyptus
in carts with donkeys
an enormous heap of beans and corn
and arrived in lowered down chevys
with sunglasses switchblades
speaking about the low life
drinking bottles of tequila
that said Made in Mexico
speaking three words of English
apple pie and coffee
singing
Let's go to California
Let's go to California

they went
through the barbed wire
Indians in white trousers and sandals
and landed
pochos pachucos lost
crazy guys with magical tattoos
of life and death
waiting on corners for the big hit
the 5 & 10 of Caliente Race Track
that never came
singing quietly they went along the streets
Let's go to California
Let's go to California

they came
from New York
New York the big apple
to the big orange
Yorubas Jíbaros Borinquens
watering the streets with Bacardi
skin the color of dark coffee
eyes of crocodile green
and a tun-tun of drums
of old ancestral jungles
that existed at one time
but now with a thousand memories
of voyages badly paid
Let's go to California
Let's go to California
Let's go to California


pochos: Mexican-Americans (derogatory)
pachucos: young Chicanos of the early and middle 1940s; “hoods”
Yorubas: native Indians of Puerto Rico
Jíbaros: Puerto Rican peasant farmers
Borinquens: synonym for Puerto Ricans

From Fiesta en Aztlán. Ed. Toni Empringham. Capra Press, 1982.

Alejandro Murguía (1949) was born in California, but raised in Mexico City. Alejandro Murguía is the author of Southern Front and This War Called Love (both winners of the American Book Award). His non-fiction bookThe Medicine of Memory highlights the Mission District in the 1970s during the Nicaraguan Solidarity movement. He is a founding member and the first director of The Mission Cultural Center. He was a founder of The Roque Dalton Cultural Brigade, and co-editor of Volcán: Poetry From Central America. Currently he is a professor in Latina Latino Studies at San Francisco State University. He is the author of the short story “The Other Barrio” which first appeared in the anthology San Francisco Noir and recently filmed in the street of the Mission District. In poetry he has published Spare Poems, Native Tongue and Stray Poems. He is the Sixth San Francisco Poet Laureate and the first Latino poet to hold the position.


Alejandro Murguia recites a poem with musician and professor Dr. Jose Cuellar (Dr.Loco)
from minute 2:00. 



14 May 2014

Tomás Rivera. Poesía chicana.


M'IJO NO MIRA NADA

Mira, m'ijo, qué rascacielo.
   “Does it reach the sky and heaven?”
Mira, m'ijo, qué carrazo.
   “Can it get to the end of the world?”
Mira, m'ijo, ese soldado.
   “¿Por qué pelea?”
Mira, m'ijo, qué bonita fuente.
   “Yes, but I want to go to the restroom.”
Mira, m'ijo, qué tiendota de J.C. Penney,
   allí trabajarás un día.
   “Do you know the people there, daddy?”
No
   vámonos a casa,
   tú no miras nada.


MY SON DOESN'T SEE A THING

Look, son, what a skycraper.
   “Does it reach the sky and heaven?”
Look, son, what a fine car.
   “Can it get to the end of the world?”
Look, son, see that soldier.
   “Why does he fight?”
Look, son, what a beautiful fountain.
   “Yes, but I want to go to the restroom.”
Look, son, what an enormous J.C. Penney store,
   there is where you will work one day. 
   “Do you know the people there, daddy?”
No
   let's go home,
   you can't see a thing.


From: Fiesta en Aztlán. Ed. Toni Empringham. Capra Press, 1982. 

Tomás Rivera (Crystal City, Texas, 1935- Fontana, California, 1984) was a Chicano author, poet, and educator. He was born in Texas to migrant farm workers, and worked in the fields as a young boy. However, he achieved social mobility through education—earning a degree at Southwest Texas State University (now known as Texas State University), and later a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) at the University of Oklahoma.
His publications include Y no se lo tragó la tierra / The Earth Did Not Part, Always and Other Poems, and numerous articles, monographs, and reports.