CINCO DE MAYO
by Francisco X. Alarcón
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First of all, Cinco de Mayo
is not at all the official
Mexican Independence Day,
nor does it commemorate the first
fiesta no matter how convincing
beer commercials might sound;
it’s as unofficial as school
children telling jokes in Spanish
in English-only public schools
Cinco de Mayo is a battle fought
in the city of Puebla in 1862;
an outnumbered, outgunned,
ill-trained and very poor
Mexican army under the command
of Ignacio Zaragoza, a general
born in San Antonio, Texas,
defeated the superbly equipped
professional French army sent
by Napoleon III; Cinco de Mayo
became a rally of hope for a nation
Cinco de Mayo is a milagrito
que nunca debió pasar pero pasó;
it’s the full-blooded Zapotec
Indian President Benito Juárez
humming, “Sí se puede”
in his forced journeys
zigzagging the Republic;
Ciudad Juárez is named
after this Mexican hero
who never gave up despite
of facing superior enemy forces
Cinco de Mayo is primavera,
the bluest of skies y se siente alegría
y sí ya casi salimos de vacaciones
Cinco de Mayo is a cry
that starts in the heart,
a drum that keeps calling:
Juan, María, José acuérdense,
it’s Cinco de Mayo
and like any other day,
el Chuy sigue preso
y el Joe is unemployed
y la Rosa is a teenager
three months pregnant,
all confused, lost at school,
and without legal papers
Cinco de Mayo was used
once as a legal deadline
intended to close the doors
to thousands who had come
to this country searching
for a dream, a better deal,
a chance to live under the stars
Cinco de Mayo is community,
familia, a ritual for life,
a collective kiss en la frente,
a rainbow, una empanada,
una canción, un baile, una mirada
Cinco de Mayo is a rally
for protecting our civil rights
against “reasonable suspicion”
of mean-spirited, racist state
laws like SB 1070 in Arizona
Cinco of Mayo is a brown David
facing a menacing cruel Goliath
singing under the clear blue sky,
“sí, se puede”, “yes, we can…”
we can dream a dream of freedom
for all Dreamers and their families
Cinco de Mayo is a collective Moses
saying to Pharaoh and the Capitol court
of jesters, let our people live in peace,
this land is also our Promised Land
Cinco de Mayo is a flower watered
by our people’s tears of pain and joy;
Cinco de Mayo is each and other day,
a lesson of resistance in a era of defeat
© Francisco X. Alarcón
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Francisco X. Alarcón, award-winning Chicano poet and educator, is the author of thirteen volumes of poetry, including, From the Other Side of Night (University of Arizona Press 2002), Ce • Uno • One: Poems for the New Sun (Swan Scythe Press 2010), Borderless Butterflies/Mariposas sin fronteras (Poetic Matrix Press 2014) and Canto hondo/Deep Song (University of Arizona Press 2014). He taught at the University of California, Davis before his death on January 15, 2016. He was also the creator of the Facebook page, Poets Responding to SB 1070.