Category Archives: poetry

CantoMundo Day 4: True Onda

Exhuasted. Seriously, the amount of conversation, poetry and activism from the last few days has me all spent which is a good thing. I feel like I’ve shaken off a lot of my personal insecurities and doubts about my poetry. Not the mechanics of my work but if my poetry can actually be more than just words that sound good from a stage. After the CantoMundo workshops and dialogue, I feel my work can have a longer reaching effect but only if I believe it.

It feels like I’ve done a good job with the public high points of the week but the real good news is the best is yet to come. I’m not sure exactly how and in what form but all the fellows and organizers are committed to coming back together next year and making it even better. Like good poetry critique, this meant we had to acknowledge things that could have gone better in this inaugural gathering. And like good critique, everything was said with positive intentions. All drama free. Yay!

Can ya tell I’m excited about being associated with this org and its mission? It’s been a minute since I’ve had this feeling. It’s happened less and less since I’ve decided that developing a poetry manuscript was my primary priority i my art life. CantoMundo has me feeling I can still keep my poetry in the forefront but also add a deeper commitment to reshaping how Latin@ Poetics are viewed by the public. Palabra.

CantoMundo Day 3: Real Talk

I’m up way too late typing this out but if I don’t do it now it might never come out.  So much positive information about not only being a Latino poet but also a reminder about the power of the word, community and friendship.

Today started with the fellows sharing a poem they wrote the night before.  Yes, CantoMundo bringin the new shit.  As a fan of first drafts I was really happy this developed and plan to keep it going on.

So why bring a first draft? Why not a poem in progress? How about just workshopping a nearly done poem?  For me, it revolves around trust and vulnerability.  We are all CantoMundo fellows, we all applied and were accepted on the strength of our work; we don’t need to prove anything.  But we can share in the process of building a poem and say the things we didn’t think we would say.  We can risk not being perfect in front of each other and celebrate that risk.  If we can’t do it amongst peers, then where are we gonna do it?

After the first draft readings, we met back up at to talk about Latin@ poetics, politics and everything in between.  It was honest and open with a broad number of topics put on the table.  No one seeking immediate answers but sharing out the things outside of poetry that we feel affect our writing.  Or, to put it bluntly, real talk.  I appreciated all the opinions and reflections and feel that getting all the things we normally talk about privately out into an open space built up a huge amount of respect in the room.  It also confirmed that CantoMundo has the potential to be more than just a workshop, it can be a place where we can initiate serious poetic activism.

Lunch followed and I was lucky enough to break bread with one of my literary heroes, Jimmy Santiago Baca.  Jimmy is super busy so I appreciated the time he spent with me, Barbara and (new CantoMundo friend) Luivette.  We are all fans of Jimmy’s work and it was great to share our appreciation for his work and his company.

Note to literature fans: Take the time to thank your literary idols. Even if its just a “I really liked your book” comment at a busy book signing.  Trust me, the artist appreciates it.  Word.

Back to work with CantoMundo and workshop with Martín Espada.  After a super informative reading of poems, we were sent off to work out the poetic idea and craft it into poem.  The work from all the fellows was top-notch and I got out a poem I’ve been meaning to write for a long time.  Good time.

On the reflection tip, I took a similar workshop with Martín about six years ago.  Back then, I was more interested in how I sounded and if I was projecting the right things in my poetry.  Now, I was more interested in how the people in my poem sounded and if I was honoring their history with my words.  It’s good to feel that poetic growth in me.

Next came Rigoberto González talking to us about the importance of community and individual activism.  Rigo talked the real talk as he went over how too many poets make the same mistakes over and over again, never learning from past mistakes.  Simple to the point and inspirational.  Rigo reminded us that there is never a community of one and either we pool our resources together or else we put ourselves in the dominant culture’s hands.

To cap off the day, Martin and Demetria had an open reading.  I’m happy to say the ‘burque folks came through and the place was packed.  Martín read classic, recent and brand new poems that show he is a master of reinvention.  Just when you think you got his poems figured out, Martín makes new leaps and takes serious risk to keep pushing himself farther.  Demetria also read a variety of work that highlighted the fact that the struggle is a long one, the system we are up against is massive and, in return, our poetry must be greater.

The real talk seems to be this:  You gotta make it happen.  Not tomorrow, or soon, or in a second; no, it has to happen in the right now.  The only way poetry can change the world is in the now, if the poetry is “near forming” then we risk the world “near change.”

Now I have to write  a new first draft for tomorrow. It’s gonna be tough but I’m willing to take the risk and share the real talk.

CantoMundo Day 2: Realization


CantoMundo 2010
Originally uploaded by OBermeo

Definition (1): an act of becoming fully aware of something as a fact

When I first heard I was accepted to CantoMundo I was the most surprised Latino in the room. Then I saw the names of the other fellows and thought I must be the luckiest dude ever because I saw names of writers who I have admired, writers with accomplishments, writers with degrees. In my mind, better writers.

I’m glad I shook that moment of self-deprecation pretty quickly and by the time I arrived in Albuquerque I knew I was ready and prepared. Luck didn’t get me here, hard work did. Luck didn’t fill out my application, I did. And if I was chosen it’s for a reason, probably the one I put down on the application essay.

Getting this kind of personal affirmation has been a process and I have to keep in mind that when I meet an author I admire, it’s ok to say you love their work. Saying it to them ten times over, maybe not so much. And when same author tells you that (s)he likes your work, accept the compliment. Don’t shrug it off. Don’t say away from your own success. Stay on the path to personal affirmation. Realize it.

I was sure of that coming into CantoMundo and after hearing guest speaker Toi Derricotte speak, I was doubly sure.  Toi’s recollection of the founding of Cave Canem, the first retreats, the highs and lows with both fellows and staff, the parallels with CantoMundo, and what the future may hold helped to cement my own place in this gathering.  It made me hopeful for the future, not because we know what’s happening next, actually, quite the opposite. The uncertain future is open to possibility and, with that, dread and fear because we don’t want to squander it.  Embrace the dread and you embrace an impossible future.  I like that.

Definition (2): the fulfillment or achievement of something desired or anticipated

My next act of realization involves my manuscript. If nothing else, CantoMundo has put me in a situation where I’ve agreed to send my manuscript to a respected author for feedback and critique, and also to a legitimate editor.

What happens next?  I don’t know.  I’ve been talking about sending my ms out with a query letter for months and haven’t done squat.  This is different.  I’ve converted a personal aspiration into a verbal realization, a big step for me.  I’m going to deliver, for sure, and see what the impossible future has in store for me.

On another note, the fellows open mic was tonight and it was pure bomba. A diverse group of styles dealing with a variety of viewpoints, a true American song of poetry.  I took video so you can see for yourself.  It won’t be anytime soon but when it’s ready, watch out.  Canto-Mundo. Canto-Mundo.

and if you don’t know, now you know


14*
Originally uploaded by imapix

Spent the weekend catching up on the sonnet for a couple of reasons but mostly because I enjoy the form and want to write more of them.

So what was I reading? Glad you asked! Here goes:

• The Sonnet: A Comprehensive Anthology of British and American Sonnets from the Renaissance to the Present, Edited by Robert M. Bender and Charles L. Squier
I picked this up years ago at Stand for like two bucks and I keep coming back to it when I need a good sonnet pick up. I have yet to read the whole thing since Ole Englishe gives me a headache but I do appreciate how the editors dug deep into British history. And what a bunch of haters those Brits were. A couple of the sonnets I read feel like the illegitimate love child of “pistols at dawn” and a “front stoop snaps session.”

But the sonnet that truly befuddled me was John Frederick Nims’ “Agamemnon Before Troy.” Part Homer, part Pecos Bill, part Spencer, and all good literary fun.

• Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes by Francisco X. Alarcon with English translations by Francisco Aragón
A good read with the section that looks at language and word as my favorite part. Alarcon’s work cuts right to the point but does so with a slow blade as opposed to a quick thrust which does justice to the sonnet form.

• Song of the Simple Truth The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos, Introduction and translations by Jack Agüeros
I’ve been making my way through this dense volume but by bit but skipped through to check out some of DeBurgos’ forays into sonnet. The two sonnets I came across are political odes to Jose Martí and Perdo Albizu Campos which push the sonnet as not just personal plea but as a voice in the arena of human awareness and rights.

• Sonnets from the Puerto Rican by Jack Agüeros
My favorite book of sonnets as Jack adds a Nuyorican flair to the form. You’ll find it all in here: love sonnets, persona sonnets, political sonnets, spanish sonnets, even sonnets with double the lines. You will also find a poet in full command of his language anchoring his sonnets in personal place and individual tradition.

Yo No Soy Yo

I am not I.
I am the one
Who walks beside me without me noticing;
Who, sometimes, I go to visit,
And who, sometimes, I forget.
The one who is silent, still, when I speak,
The one who forgives, kindly, when I hate,
The one who travels where I have never been,
The one who will keep walking when I have died.

– Poem by Juan Ramón Jiménez. Translation by Oscar Bermeo.

And that’s my first attempt at poetic translation. It’s not perfect – the third line is probably the hardest one to nail down – but you gotta start somewhere and this poem is as good a place as any considering the fine article Rachel Zucker has on Confessional Poetry. For me, the article really gets rolling towards the end since the beginning part of it has Ms Zucker going off on bad confessional poetry which almost turned me off since (cue the broad generalization theme music) everyone hates bad poetry. We all hate bad performance poetry, bad page poetry, bad lyrical poetry, bad protest poetry, bad published poetry, bad slam poetry, and on and on.

Mind you, it is easier to hate a poem whose merit is subjective over a poem whose merit is based on at least some tangible measure. Which brings us back to confessional poetry (and its cousin, political protest poetry) and the fact that far too often, the writer puts the audience on a very tenuous precipice- if you love the work then you are validating me as a writer but if you don’t like the work then you are invalidating my life experience.

At best, the above ultimatum comes from an insecure writer who is trying to make solid connections with an audience and resorts to their concrete point-of-views as a place to forge a connection. At worst, we have an egotistical ranter who is trying to force a simple solution on a complicated issue (Our kids need better teachers! The ghetto needs more government services! Cops are animals! War is wrong!) to a room full of sheep who are looking for someone to speak for them. Somewhere in the middle, you will find a whole bunch of folks who have a story and the desire to share that story to a listener who will pay them some mind and acknowledge it as a poem.

As for me, I’m just looking for good poems and my experience says most good poems are the product of editing which is one place the I needs to go to the curb for a minute. At least that’s the way I am interpreting Jimenez’s poem and a practice I need to continue brining to my own writing.

Yo no soy yo.
Soy este
que va a mi lado sin yo verlo;
que, a veces, voy a ver,
y que, a veces, olvido.
El que calla, sereno, cuando hablo,
El que perdona, dulce, cuando odio,
el que pasea por donde no estoy,
el que quedará en pie cuando yo muera.
– Juan Ramón Jiménez