Author Archives: Oscar Bermeo

Quick Read: The Sixth Man

Today’s read: The Sixth Man: A Memoir by Andre Iguodala – Blue Rider Press – 2019

Favorite passage: “And we earn money. In some cases, lots of it…As Americans, we are led to believe that this in and of itself should be the path toward complete satisfaction. If we make enough money, have enough success, then we should be free from all struggles—or more accurately, our struggles are no longer valid. But what most of us find after a while, and much to our surprise, is that even with all the cash and prizes, the question of purpose remains. Pain and suffering still remain. Anger and frustration still remain.”

Andre was always on of my favorite Warriors and it was a pleasure to read through his memoir. This is a solid book that shares some of the mindsets necessary to go from growing up Black and male in a single mom household in the Midwest to navigating college, settling in the NBA and then becoming a champion and Finals MVP. The read is quick with a spotlight on only a few key moments from Iguodala’s career and even those moments are painted with a very broad brush. You won’t get heavy game-by-game analysis, cheesy trash talking, or inside gossip but you will find the story of a Black man defining his value in and out of US sports culture.

#NationalPoetryMonth 2020 Reading List

Thirty poetry collections in 30 days. Shout outs to all the used bookstores and library sales where we found so many of these classics. There are more than a few of these volumes that go for ridiculous amounts of dollars (that do not reach the poet or presses) on internet web sites. Don’t fall for it. When bookstores open again it is worth it to take the time to look for some of these treasures. Love to Barb who found so many of these.

  1. Vivas To Those Who Have Failed: Poems, Martín Espada – W. W. Norton & Company – 2017
  2. Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000, Lucille Clifton – Boa Editions – 2008
  3. Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah: Poems, Patricia Smith – Coffee House Press – 2012
  4. Poems, Roque Dalton – Curbstone Press – 1984
    Translation by Richard Schaaf
  5. The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: Poems, Joy Harjo – Norton – 1996
  6. Revolutionary Letters, Diane di Prima – City Lights Books – 1974
  7. Arrival: Poems, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor – Triquarterly Books, Northwestern University Press – 2017
  8. The Planet Of the Dead, Ren̩ Vaz РNomadic Press Р2017
  9. Cruelty: Poems, Ai – Houghton Mifflin – 1973
  10. There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonc̩, Morgan Parker РTin House Books Р2017
  11. Notes on the Assemblage, Juan Felipe Herrera – City Lights Books – 2015
  12. This Side Of Early: Poems, Naomi Ayala – Curbstone Press – 2008
  13. To Disembark, Gwendolyn Brooks – Third World Press – 1981
  14. Clap For Me: That’s Not Me, Paola Capó-Garcia – Rescue Press – 2018
  15. Immigrants in Our Own Land & Selected Early Poems, Jimmy Santiago Baca – New Directions Publishing – 1990
  16. Under Flag, Myung Mi Kim – Kelsey St. Press, 1991
  17. The Crazy Bunch, Willie Perdomo – Penguin Books – 2019
  18. Night Is a Sharkskin Drum, Haunani-Kay Trask – University Of Hawaii Press – 2002
  19. The Psalms Of Struggle and Liberation, Ernesto Cardenal – Herder and Herder – 1971
    Foreword by Thomas Merton, Translation by Emile G. McAnany, Photography by Robert Rush
  20. Whereas, Layli Long Soldier – Graywolf Press – 2017
  21. The Country Between Us, Carolyn Forch̩ РHarper & Row Р1981
  22. Shadowboxing: Poems & Impersonations, Joseph Rios – Omnidawn Publishing – 2017
  23. Dreams in Harrison Railroad Park: Poems, Nellie Wong – Kelsey St. Press – 1977
  24. Calendar Of Dust, Benjamin Alire Sáenz – Broken Moon Press – 1991
  25. Nappy Edges* (*the roots of your hair/ what turns back when we sweat, run, make love, dance, get afraid, get happy: the tell-tale sign of living/), Ntozake Shange – St. Martin’s Press – 1978
  26. In Search of Duende, Federico García Lorca – New Directions Publishing – 1998
  27. Profeta Without Refuge, Raina León – Nomadic Press – 2016
  28. Puerto Rican Obituary, Pedro Pietri – Monthly Review Press – 1973
  29. while they sleep (under the bed is another country), Raquel Salas Rivera – Birds, LLC – 2019
  30. Song Of Protest, Pablo Neruda – Quill – 1985
    Foreword and translation by Miguel Algarín

#NationalPoetryMonth 30/30

Today’s read: Song Of Protest by Pablo Neruda – Quill – 1985
Foreword and translation by Miguel Algarín

Favorite Algarín line:
I focused my entire attention on New York until I learned to survive. Soon, however, I felt dissatisfied. It was not enough to have the new. I needed a history as well. I needed my memories, and for that I needed Spanish back.
— from “The Politics of Poetry”

Favorite Nerdua line:
I have a pact of love with beauty:
I have a pact of blood with my people.
— from “Do Not Ask Me”

My memories of poetry and Pablo Neruda are deeply intertwined. Neruda was not the first poet I read and I am not sure if he was even the first Spanish language poet that I read. I do know that Neruda was the first poet where the Spanish and English side of the pages actually spoke to each other and I was the voice. I remember picking up a copy of Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair for a friend’s birthday. Before gift wrapping the book, I began to thumb through the pages with every intention of just reading the English translations. I then decided to fumble through some Spanish. (I learned to read Spanish as an eight-year-old; a gift from my mother that is its own story) Soon, I was not fumbling through the Spanish. The Spanish, some broken for sure, was coming through me and making sense as sound and feeling. I gave up on reading the English and stayed focused on the Spanish. I was, as Algarín mused, connecting with a history in myself. It was one of my first decolonizing memories made even more impactful by the fact that I did not even know there was such an act as decolonizing.

Neruda continues to impact me as a poet let me about a Neruda biography that details Neruda raping a Sri Lankan woman. This is powerful information and begins a new chapter of my relationship with Neruda. I have met enough poets in my own life to know that great writing does not make for a great person. I am going to be processing a lot on what Neruda means to me with this new information. I am good with reading old poems again and asking new questions.

#NationalPoetryMonth 29/30

traducir no es comunicarse

— Raquel Salas Rivera

Today’s read: while they sleep (under the bed is another country) by Raquel Salas Rivera – Birds, LLC – 2019

Yesterday I did an hour+ of translation during a Zoom town hall for the families in my school. It has been hard to maintain focus and stay engaged during regular Zoom meetings but this one was a particular challenge as I navigated taking notes, monitoring the facials of the speakers and some of the audience while also praying hard to all the WiFi gods.

I have a clear memory of the first time I did a town hall translation at work. I only recently moved from New York to Oakland. I was getting a crash course on Bay Area Spanish and educational language (English and Spanish). I did fine for the first few rounds but then I had to translate the simplest word ever: backpack. I went with the Nuyo Spanish word I had always grown up with ‘maletin’ and the audience went dead silent. I knew I was lost and in some deep water in my first month at my job. A lady in the front row with the kindest voice whispered “mochilla” to me. I didn’t even blink and just repeated the sentence using mochilla. The town hall continued on and all was well.

I have gotten into the practice of apologizing for my Spanish at the start of almost all big translation meetings especially with families that I am just meeting. In fifteen years of doing translations I have only had one person who would consistently correct my big and small errors. The person would also come up to me after meetings and recount how many times I was wrong. This is just how life works. There is always one person like that but the reality is that I have had many more people appreciate that even my weak Spanish is a service they are grateful for.

There are times when poetry feels so much the same. The language is right there, the experience is common, but the grammar is a bit off or the diction is not quite right. There will be those who will jump and correct the misuse of a semicolon or the over eloquence of a word. This is how poetry business works. The need for precision, the reliance on ceremony, the call for the perfect translation tries to get in the way of communicating the story.

#NationalPoetryMonth 28/30

Today’s read: Puerto Rican Obituary by Pedro Pietri – Monthly Review Press – 1973

Favorite lines:

and once again
the mailbox was empty
and his arms were aching
and his nerves were doing weird things
the worst enemy he had
and once again he asked

— Pedro Pietri

And this poem took me a place I did not expect to go. It brought me right to the heart of Trump’s America as they check for a stimulus check that is either not there or not enough. Because, in Trump’s America, that is where you live flat broke or thinking you are flat broke. And when you live between extremes you know nothing else. You may know the news or some news or the right news but even that is shaky lately. Numbers are not adding up. Trump’s America is doing fine and then it’s not. This used to be ok. Trump’s America has always been reality TV but now even that is not enough. Numbers don’t match the story of Trump’s America. Now you need to make Trump’s America true again. You hear that Clorox can fix this. Trump’s America has always wanted to be pure, clean, sterile. Now is Trump’s America’s chance to stop the spread harmful bacteria. Trump’s America’s wants to deliverance of a brighter and longer-lasting whites future. Trump’s America wants medicine and even if the numbers, the TV, the stimulus, do not add up that will not stop Trump’s America from that injection, the pure disinfectant, that can deliver the light (a powerful concept). The promise of a true cleaning.

There is at least some truth here. A limpieza is necessary. A sprinkle of Agua Florida, the deep balm of VapoRub, the fog of salvia, the divinations of Walter Mercado. A good talking from that auntie that tells all your business complete with a deep side eye when you interrupt. The waves hitting MSG when Manu Dibango taught the Fania All Stars bout the mama sa mama so mamakosa, mama say mama so mamakosa, hay soul makosa, and we all where in the throat of sax and bone of vibraphone. When you ready for that act of change then you can begin to let the medicine do the work.