Flaco Fuentes
Flaco Fuentes, lowly Chicano,
ate only beans and tortillas
and survived by luck.
Flaco loved the days of old,
Aztec and Maya and Olmec,too,
though he never surmised the blood.
He sighed at what was not
and dreamed of fighting Spaniards,
slashing at them with his golden sword.
He mourned his empty life,
fought abandoned gas stations
and overgrown lots.
Dreamed that his tattered clothes
clanked like armor, shoved his sword
into leafless shrubs.
He went home and wrote such marvelous words
he thought the world
would some day need.
But the days turned into years
and no one noticed when Flaco
didn’t even notice them himself.
posted by RC @ 12:23 AM
3 Comments:
Buen poema. I like you poetry because it is well done and you are actually a real cultural worker: you work at a real job hence (I assume) you derive your words from daily life. Quite a few of the Chicano writers whether theoratical or creative are looking over the shoulders of their students or are looking for images that fall out of the mouth of folks passing by so they can fill their empty pens with reality. I call them image stealers. You live in reality and you know (as I do) the idea of Chicano is limited to a clique that derives its bread and butter from exploiting the daily life images of our gente. They do not partake in it and usually are born again raza.
Learn their Spanish at an older age and are infatuated by words like simon, chale, vato etc.
Anyhow that is my spill and as a poet I consider myself to be a cultural worker, which means I have a daily job and do not believe I am privileged to lead a life of decadence because I write. Y despues de todo - no one will publish my poetry. Especially the poem entitled Viejas Nalga Sultas.
Take care,
Esmeralda Bernal
Your comments are always appreciated.Yes,I have always worked in jobs away from my first love,my poetry.I've always worked in manufacturing plants,mostly 12 hour shifts,6 or 7 days a week.So you see whatever writing time I have,I have to take advantage of it.Break time and lunch time are writing time.Poems wake me up in the middle of the night, I get my flashlight and write them down in my notebook and go back to sleep.On my days offs I carry my notebook with me everywhere I go.
Esmeralda if you ever want to publish one of your poems on my blog feel free to email it to me.My email address is on my Blogger profile.Thanks again for your kind words.
who is Esmeralda to decide what makes a "real" Chicano poet? You cannot say that these "image stealers" do not experience the Chicano life.. poetry, like photogrpahy, is an art. Every single artist has his/her own style, and the only one that has authority to judge its authenticity in ideas, style, and inspiration is the author
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