• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Literature / LATINOPIA WORD / LATINOPIA WORD ALARCÓN ON MONTOYA

LATINOPIA WORD ALARCÓN ON MONTOYA

September 29, 2013 by

 

A Poet Is a River

 

to José Montoya(1932-2013), Chicano poet laureate,

who decided to celebrate his book “InFormation: 20 Years of Joda,”

by reading poems at La Raza / Galería Posada in Sacramento,

on April 24,1993, the same day César Chávez passed away

 

a poet                      a poet                             a poet

is a river                  is a puff                          becomes

 

flowing                    of fresh air                     a table

unnoticed                in any room                   a guitar  

 

caressing                  a poet                             a house

stones                        is a mirror                     el barrio

 

moving                      a clenched                     speaks

silt from                     fist                                  in tongues

 

one place                   a bleeding                     brings back

to another                  nose                               the dead

 

carving                       a poet                            makes

canyons                      is a smile                       possible

 

all the way                 laughter                        dreaming

to the sea                   and tears                       in the fields

 

                                 © Francisco X. Alarcón

 

 

Un poeta es un río

 

a José Montoya (1932-2013), poeta laureado chicano,

quien para celebrar su libro “InFormation: 20 Years of Joda”,

decidió recitar poemas en La Raza  / Galería Posada en Sacramento,

el 24 de abril de 1993, el mismo día en que César Chávez falleció

 

un poeta                  un poeta                         un poeta

es un río                  es un soplo                      se vuelve

 

que fluye                 de aire freso                    una mesa

desapercibido         dondequiera                    una guitarra

 

acariciando             un poeta                           una casa

piedras                     es un espejo                     el barrio

 

moviendo                una mano                          habla

sedimentos              empuñada                         en lenguas

 

de un lugar              una nariz                            revive

a otro                       que sangra                         a los muertos

 

labrando                  un poeta                              y hace

cañones                   es una sonrisa                      posible

 

hasta llegar              lágrimas                               soñar

al mar                       y risas                                   en los campos

 

© Francisco X. Alarcón

 

 

Filed Under: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature Tagged With: homage to Jose Montoya, Jose Monotya, Jose Montoya dead at 81, Passing of a Chicano legend, What's New

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 07.03.25 BRILLIANCE OF ÁNGEL RODRÍGUEZ-DÍAZ

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

The Brilliance of Latino Artist Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz Among the major acquisitions by the prestigious Smithsonian American Art Museum in the 1990s was an Ángel Rodríguez-Diaz painting of famed Latina novelist Sandra Cisneros. Rodríguez-Díaz painted Cisneros in a black Mexican dress decorated with sequins and embroidery, and she “holds a patterned rebozo that snakes around her […]

MIS PENSAMIENTOS with ALFREDO SANTOS 07.03.25 NO KINGS DAY PROTESTS

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

THE NO KINGS PROTEST RALLY IN AUSTIN, TEXAS On a pleasant Saturday afternoon on June 14, 2025, Austin participated in a nationwide ‘NO KINGS” protest rally along with 2,100 other cities and towns and 5,000,000 others citizens across the U.S.A.. It’s estimated that the Austin rally, held on the Texas Capital grounds, drew over 20,000 […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 07.03.25 VIEQUES PARAÍSO AGRÍCOLA

July 3, 2025 By wpengine

Burundanga de Zocotroco José M. Umpierre Vieques Vieques es la Isla Nena del Archipiélago Borinkano que descansa a diez leguas al este de la Isla Grande;  cuenta con 132 kilómetros cuadrados, 33de largo por 7,2 de ancho, con una topografía de montes, colinas, pequeños valles y planicies costeras; abundan playas espectaculares, lagunas con algunos manantiales […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 07. 03.25 VIEQUES AN AGRO PARADISE (ENGLISH)

July 3, 2025 By JT

Umpierre Agro Vieques Vieques is the Nena Island of the Borinkano Archipelago that rests ten leagues east of the Isla Grande; it has 132 square kilometers, 33 long by 7.2 wide, with a topography of mountains, hills, small valleys and coastal plains; spectacular beaches abound, lagoons with some springs and ravines but insufficient to supply […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 2

By Tia Tenopia on October 20, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist,muralist and print maker. In this second profile on Sonia and her work, Latinopia explores Sonia’s public murals, in particular the “Urban Oasis” mural at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles, California.

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA WORD JOSÉ MONTOYA “PACHUCO PORTFOLIO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 12, 2011

José Montoya is a renowned poet, artist and activist who has been in the forefront of the Chicano art movement. One of his most celebrated poems is titled “Pachuco Portfolio” which pays homage to the iconic and enduring character of El Pachuco, the 1940s  Mexican American youth who dressed in the stylish Zoot Suit.

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

LATINOPIA WORD XOCHITL JULISA BERMEJO “OUR LADY OF THE WATER GALLONS”

By Tia Tenopia on May 26, 2013

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, California. She volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem, “Our Lady of the Water Gallons” at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors […]

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

© 2025 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin