“Imagine the Angels of Bread”

“Imagine the Angels of Bread”

ByMartin Espada

* “Martín Espada’s “Imagine the Angels of Bread” is a fascinating combination of the vengeful and the visionary, of anger and compassion, and of reality and dream.
The speaker imagines a worldwide release from oppression, depicting an escape, among other injustices, from inhumane work conditions, tenant evictions, and politically motivated murders.
The poem proceeds by way of a series of near-apocalyptic revolutionary reversals, by inverting long-standing injustices as Espada, on the one hand, imagines those in power themselves suffering for the first time –”squatters evict landlords” –or, conversely, dreams of liberating the poor and the victims of discrimination.”
* Heather Zadra – Book Review Modern American Poetry Society
Imagine the Angels of Bread (Published, Norton, 1996)

” ¡Qué inteligente es mi mamá!” (How Intelligent is my mother!” Spanish Poem in Trenzas-Braids

” ¡Qué inteligente es mi mamá!” (How Intelligent is my mother!” Spanish Poem in Trenzas-Braids

ByJorge D. H. Prosperi

“Pretend Reading” differs from culture to culture.
It was a traditional intervention by mothers, who did not have a formal education, but pretended to read to their child.
All it took was some crumbled papers and a mother who would not allow her past to become her child’s future.

Such a nurturer was my mother who never saw the inside of a school.
So she pretended to read to me, by way of the oral tradition, sharing stories of ancestors, elders and traditions.
Love, resiliency and perseverance were always at the core of each story ~ that continue to resonate.

“Cuando en puro inglés . . . trago tierra” (“When in English . . . I swallow dirt”) ~ Poetic from Trenzas-Braids

“Cuando en puro inglés . . . trago tierra” (“When in English . . . I swallow dirt”) ~ Poetic from Trenzas-Braids

ByJorge D. H. Prosperi

A major obstacle in assimilating and acclimating to a culture is learning its language.
Many Americans take German, French, Spanish or other languages in a learning environment for 2, 3,, 4, even 5 years.
Can they have a fluent conversation with a native speaker without an interpreter?
Learning a second language is an arduous challenge emotionally and psychologically, not in a classroom but when it matters – in real life situations.
It impacts mind, heart and spirit.

Trenzas ~ “¡Yo soy!”

Trenzas ~ “¡Yo soy!”

ByJorge D. H. Prosperi

Trenzas ~ “¡Yo soy!” came to life during my youth, watching my grandmother brushing and braiding my mother’s hair and my mother passing on the loving strokes to my aunts.
Braiding was a time to ask and answer questions, for storytelling, sharing wisdom and always a time for caring and loving.
There was an intimacy about it all that always finished with besos (kisses), lingering abrazos (hugs), and with a resounding emphatic ¡Cuídate! (Be careful! Remain cautious!)
The “doñas” (elders) knew the reasons why caution needed to be ever present while “panzudos patrones” (fat cat land owners) roamed, seeking entitled desserts.

Every woman wore her trenzas with pride and dignity. There was a sameness and yet singularness as trenzas danced in the wind behind them with a story to tell.
I remember how beautiful they were… especially my mother’s trenzas… how they made me feel safe and loved as they danced behind her.

*Artistry by figurative painter Charissa Cota (Gutiérrez) of Cha Gutiérrez – “Seven Sisters of Sonora”

Aboriginal Ritual Chant

Aboriginal Ritual Chant

ByJorge D. H. Prosperi

Aboriginal Ritual Chant – Anonymous
The spirits of native people endures and lives on.
Heritage and human dignity passed on through centuries of sacrifice, resiliency and perseverance.
Nature – the land guarding its ancestral treasures.
With each chant we hear anguish turned to eloquence and forgiveness.
How human to include those who only knew how to plunder.

A Ritual to Read to Each Other

A Ritual to Read to Each Other

ByWilliam E. Stafford

William Stafford had a quiet daily ritual of writing focusing on the ordinary.
His poetic style seems to invite a conversation that is close to everyday speech to remain alert and ‘awake’ for there is many a small betrayal in the wind.
“I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.”

William Stafford, “A Ritual to Read to Each Other” from The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 1998 by William Stafford.

Worth Rereading and Remembering ~ “Tú Me Quieres Blanca” ~ (You Who Want Me White) (Spanish Original followed by English Translation)

Worth Rereading and Remembering ~ “Tú Me Quieres Blanca” ~ (You Who Want Me White) (Spanish Original followed by English Translation)

ByAlfosina Storni

Alfonsina Storni wrote during a time of emerging “strong men” and authoritarianism. Among such forces and often standing alone among her peers, she had the courage to oppose machoism, chauvinism and the double standards suppressed on women. “Tú Me Quieres Blanca” (“You Who Want Me White”) reminds of the connections and intersectionalities of Diversity – then and now.