1993_05 The Daily Collegian May 1993

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Page 3 — Poetry
—
May 6,  1993
Jose Montoya
AT THE FIRST FARMWORKERS
CONVENTION
Just the other day
,   In Fresno.
In a giant arena
■     Architectured
•    To reject the very poor.
Cesar chavez brought
The very poor
Together
In large numbers.
Cuatrorientos delegados
On the convention floor
Alone
And a few
Thousand more
In the galleries - ,   .
And outside
(...jparecfael mercado)
The very poor'had come
Together
For protection —
Thousands
From the chaos /
Of past chameful harvests,    |
Culminating —
That humble man's
Awesome task
Of organizing
The unorganizables!
Farmworkers!
(Workers of the fields!) -.,.
Campesinos!
(|Peoncs de los campos)
Not lifeles* executives.
Not. stranger yet.
Pompous politicians!
What I saw
Were the familiar   -
Face*
Of yeW grapes  .
And labor camps.
Body dragging faces
Baked in the oven
Valle dc Coacbella
and frost blistered
En las heladas de Sanger
During pruning time
Faces that have
Dealt with
Exploiters and
■ Deponers
Y con contratistas
Chuecos.
Faces!
Faces black
From Florida with love
And Coca Cola
YRaza
De Chicago
Brown Brown
YdeTejas
Y Arabes de'Lamoot
Y asi gente
That had come
From all the fields
Of all the farmlands
Of America.
Farmworkers!
Campesinos!
The very poor!
The unorganizables —
Now. at a convention
Yet.
No fancy vinyl-cover
Briefcases here
No Samsonite luggage
Nor Botany 500s
Solo ropa del trabajo
Pero bien planchadita
Y portafolios sencillos
Decarton
Y caba qiiien con su
Mochilita
Y taquitos   .
En el parking lot
Where old acquaintances     /<
Renew friendships
And compare the
Different experiences
Of late     ;
No longer merely
Comparing wages and
Camp conditions like
Before...
(...iacuantoand
pa' ya pa' la costa)
New queries now. reflecting
The different experiences
Of late...   .
(...and how many
you arrested, brother?)
\-
And the talk of the market
. Place continues
And they listen to
Boastful, seasoned travelers
Who have left, for the time
Being at least.
The well-worn routes
Of the harvest followers
And they talk °f
Strange sounding places...
f...pps sabe que en el boicateo p
Firadclfia.)
The talk of the market-place
Reflecting the different
Experiences Of late...
The talk of the market place
The parking place
The market lot
The parking lot.
Where the families
Were bedded down
For three days     *>
Amidst amistad
Y canciones
Canciones y mas canciones!
Singing de colorcs.
About solidaridad
Pa' siempre
And we shall overcome '
Encspaflol
Singing and joking
(...el que ho este de acuerdo con mi
mocion. que me la...)
Ca Ca car ca ja ja das
And table pounding
Belly rolls
Then '
illy. without embarassment
Back to work.
Faces!
Faces de farmworkers —
Organized!   •
Confident!
Unafraid!
Resoluteness t
Without impudence —
(... me dispensa hermano
pero mi genie no ha comido)
Faces!
Faces de campesinos.
Faces of the very poor
Confident.
Unafraid —
Singing, singing
Even inside
On that floor of decorum 'i
Singing
In defiance
Of Mr. Roberts' own rules!
Singing 6
The unorganizable.
The people of the earth -
Today
Very seriously
Contemplating
The ratification
Of Article 37
For history
Aadforever!
..   ^
■   -
Juan Felipe Hen-era
Pa' Cesar Chavez
UNO •
let us gather in a flourishing way
with sunluz grains abriendo los
cantos
que cargamos cada dfa
en el young pasto nuestro cueipo
para regalar y dar feliz perlas pearls
of com flowing arboles de vida en las
cuatro esqujnas
let us gather in a flourishing way
contentos llenos de fuerza to vida
giving nacimientos to fragrant rfos
dulces frescos verde* turquoise
strong
came de nuestros hijos rainbows
let us gather in a flourishing way
en la luzy en la came of. our heart to
toil
tranquilos in fields of blossoms
juntos to stretch los brazos tranquilos
with the rain en la manana
temprana estrella on our forehead
cielo decalor and wisdom to meet us
where we toil seimpre
in the garden of our struggle and joy J
let us offer our hearts a saludar our
aguila rising freedom
a celebrar woven brazos branches
ramas
piedras nopales plumas piercing
bursting
figs and aguacates
" ripe mariposa fields and mares claros
of our face    1
to breathe todos en el camino
blessing f*
the seeds to give to grow maizuan
en las manos de nuestro amor
DOS
re bozos of love
we have woven
sudor de.pueblos
on pur back
TRES
hace muchos afios huichol
montanas ground maizitos rojos red
plumas wrapped en bronoe once aqui'
yonacf
para siembras y cantar
ruituri flor de la lira tuyamia
tamboras venadocuero
joror.go de la tierra diosa
siembra
para deep cantos cantas
' toda vida tuyamia emeros mil
cuerpos
esnudos semilla fires
suben
de las sombras
dark spiral
sanasangre
secos •
dry frias matas mares
las conchas campanas glow now mi
padre
lauyepa aguilas sol
ilo miras?
dark huipi les
lanos lana mugre came
en el llano serpiente cara rapped
odios
hechos a mano partida corazdn
chupan las carries frias emraAas
sabor maizita ciega
cascaros hambras unbar alambres
de hambres en ciclos sin sol
angustias de Miches mi
cuerpo miles of trensa rotas
siehto las llamas
latjfundios
no brillan la vida
corazones huicholes
dragging feathers wilted
en mis guitarras milpas
el chapulinos se foe
no quiero
el mundo millas en carbon semillas
dark estrellas
vetoes
caras
sin ojos fnitas hojas bloom mira
jmira!
eres iguila be bom la luz
bendita rainbow estambres caldtTs
ground com ,   .
jorongos jacaranas trees pueblito
fnitos rico
canta huichol
Margarita Luna Robtes
Pa' Cesar Chavez
I.
Peregrina. The march is holy—I
think of my husband.
the poet Juan Felipe who wrote this
once before about
another march. This time this march
means something
more familiar, a ring, a circle coming
together, el pueblo,
la gente, time and space forming a
sacred moment.
I think of all the other marches. It
was Cesar who started
it all. It was in the fields where the
Chicano poets were bom.
Alurista carried the farmworker
flag—the campesinos were
the first(audience. There were no
distinctions.
II.
Meaning. 1 don't know what it
means .to be here for this death.
Death, like birth, are the only true
I markers of time.
Beginnings and endings and all that's
in-between ' \
like air floating above the earth and
holding up ^""\
the sky. « -  4
As I drive to tu> point in Delano I
watch the Sunrise
over the hilltops of the valley. Gray
to pink' to orange
to blue. The doves are citing out to
the spirit of everything.^
Death seems to be nothing and yet
becomes everything.
I tell my friend Anita who is with me
that I have an
image of feet, walking tired feet, and
I don't know what  •
that means.
It is a moment to search for meaning.
It was his feet, his brown clav feet
that looked like the     . \^
dusty parched earth. The broken
leather sandals that
did not survive another marcH. The
people, la gente,
never have walking shoes. Puras
chanclas.
Anita tells me she feels sad
III.
Arrival. Forty Acres. Forty acres of
what? Earth and
dust. The casket is nearby. Anita's
heart palpitates and
the sadness becomes stronger. "He
'changed my life,"
she tells me as the tears fall.
He changed all our lives. He,look us
back to the people that
we left behind so many generations
ago. But they art
here just as we left them. Nothing
changes.
IV.
J
Pobreza. Poverty. The earth is
etched on the skin.
Slavery has sculpted our backs.
Water pours from
the blisters on the palms of the
hands. The hands
are thick. The mouth isJhirsty. The
belly is hungry.       ~r~
The heart screams for something
else, another life.
The soul looks for a way out
V.
Sun. The sun is a god. It devours
the flesh.
El campesino still works the land for
someone
else's profit
Pedro is twenty one and walks with
Alurista.
He is a young man kind enough to
cany my
bag in the hot sun.  He tells me about
how campesinos
drink beer at the end of the day. «
Some might call it alcoholism.
but, just think about working in this
sun and how
that cold beer feels after the end of the
day. And.
it is their only escape from their
reality.
I see the pain in Pedro's eyes as he
speaks. Pedro
makes me feel proud of who we all
are.
VI.
•    •■
Shame. It.was a shame how all me
hdllywooders
■ came for their own glory. Did they
forget what .,-—'
it was all about? The earth cries.
VII.
Stars. There are stars in the heavens.'
I am reminded
that I am not alone in the world^^
There is work to be
done. Cesar is now a star in the sky.
n
Forever. La gente. It is always about
la gente. We must never
forget.
In memory of
Cesar Chavez
19271993
R.I. P.