ARRIVED TODAY: Dear Jack by Scott Inguito

Editor's Note

A seminar on the San Francisco Renaissance led by Gary Snyder was a highpoint of my stint in Davis, California back in 2000. I took it as an opportunity to read Collected Books of Jack Spicer (poetry), The House that Jack Built (lectures), One Night Stand and Other Poems (early poems), and the biography by Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian, Poet Be Like God---a wonderfully vivid portrait of literary San Francisco in the mid 50s and early 60s. In the wake of my years in Spain, Spicer's After Lorca caught my eye: his imaginary letters to the dead poet from Granada, some of which were translations of Lorca poems, both real and invented, were mesmerizing. It's with particular delight, therefore, to present Dear Jack by Scott Inguito; and a happy coincidence, as well, since Wesleyan readies to release, My Vocabulary Did This To Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer.

Before I had the pleasure of meeting Scott or reading his work, our e-correspondence revealed that he brought to his poetry a background in the visual arts, as well as a constellation of thought that took nothing for granted---perpetually questioning and probing what poetry and a poem could do. I first encountered his work in early poems anchored in his Mexican, Filipino and Irish working-class roots in Santa Maria, California. His play with syntax, the line, and punctuation announced, to my mind, that poetry for him was about exploring and playing with language:
...
The light line falls
Your face
If I have found
Sing back to me
In choirs of arms
Faces wooden
At table
Bread is fondness torn
Olives in the filling
Grape-stuffed empanadas
Pinched & curled
With brown hands
...
[from "Guadalupe Beach" in The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry.]

In 2003 Inguito took part in an AWP reading I organized featuring emerging Latino and Latina poets. Later he accepted my invitation to be in The Wind Shifts (University of Arizona Press, 2007). Put simply, Scott Inguito, as exemplified by the work you'll read in Dear Jack, is among a particular group of writers who are enlarging---stretching the canvas of Latino poetry.

Francisco Aragón
Institute for Latino Studies
University of Notre Dame

*

Scott should be getting, or have gotten his shipment today: those of you out in the San Francisco/Bay Area can support the poet and buy a copy from him. One of the other things I'm especially pleased about with regard to this title is that the Introduction is written by Craig Santos Perez, whose work as a critic (and poet for that matter: I recently read, in Cambridge, England, the terrific from Unincorporated Territory) I admire increasingly. He's written a fun and brilliant piece---in the form of a letter ("Dear Scott")---to usher in Scott's work.

*
Named after a volcano in Nicaragua,

Momotombo Press publishes new works in Latino literature
in the chapbook format---with particular attention to those artists
who have yet to publish a first full-length book.

cosas, momotombo interviews, a podcast

COSAS

I admire the discipline of diligent web loggers.
*
Lest I get in trouble for quoting a poem in full without proper permission, here is the latter half of something. It's from a piece titled, "Missing Angels":

[...]
Remember we too migrated--
we once left our signatures on the sand
& on night
sliding through our fingers
like hourglass
And the memory of you
swearing an oath on a steel spike
then offering it deep to the earth & ocean
dead fish looking on

We promised we would not end like the others
forgetful of breeze
the smooth Caribbean relax
of conversation
the humanity of doing nothing

Soon you'll have to answer to the sand you swore
& the steel you swore
because it's possible they've hidden you
buried the script of you
the arching target of history: Yet
blood reaches home soon
Sand will eventually turn to bone
Wind will feel its flesh
Steel will give it body

& there is still music
more music
memorized in stone

from WISE FISH: TALES IN 6/8 TIME (Coffee House Press, 2005)
* by Adrian Castro

Many many months ago, when I mapped out PALABRA PURA's 2008 season, one of the things I wanted to do was invite poets whose work interested me, but who I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting.

One of those poets was Adrian Castro, whose work I was led to by Victor Hernández Cruz.

The irony is that I recently made the difficult decision to stay put and sit out tonight's reading in Chicago because my travel was taking its toll (I head out again on the 30th). So I'll have to rely on Lisa Alvarado to let me know how things go tonight at the California Clipper. On a related note, Latino Poetry Review (LPR) will be publishing a piece on Castro's work by Barabra Jane Reyes.
*
And speaking of VHC, I was in the Strand in NYC back in mid April, wandering back to the poetry section, and there was Victor: crouched and scanning the shelf for first editions of Frank Lima. He found a volume he already had: Inventory, a New and Selected. So I got to buy it instead.

Contributing Editor of LPR, Urayoán Noel, will be putting something together on Lima for a future issue of LPR.
*
One of my recuperated pleasures since my move from South Bend to the District last summer was the urban noontime stroll. Today, I took a generous one along M into Georgetown for a lunch meeting. On my way back I walked into a small bookstore. A friend had casually mentioned its existence, but I hadn't gone in till today. I handed over my bag, walked upstairs to check out the poetry section and was pleasantly taken aback:

While not rivaling, say, the selection one might find in the Poetry Room at City Lights in San Francisco, or the poetry section at the sadly defunct Cody's on Telegraph in Berkeley, or Black Oak Books on Shattuck in Berkeley, I was quite impressed for its range and aesthetic diversity. I only spent a moment, but it was enough to see that they carried titles, for example, by Rodrigo Toscano and Edwin Torres, and others. I ended up buying two volumes: one was a book published by Soft Skull Press in 1998 titled Intermission and which had an introduction that began:

Let's say, for the sake of argument, you are a lover of poetry. Why else would you be standing there in the poetry section of this bookstore? Your eyes happened to fall upon this book.
If you are a fan of Tracie Morris, as I am, then I don't really have to twist your arm now, do I?...

Cornelius Eady goes on to say:

If you are a stranger to her work, then I envy you, for you are about to experience the pleasure of discovery, a delight that seems all too rare in these cynical days

*

The second book I bought was published in 2007 by Atelos, which is a press whose editors are Lyn Hejinian &Travis Ortiz

Here's how the first poem in the volume begins:

QUARK TRICK

decorative heart slap
chasing zephyr tail

wearing red for aerial diffusion
elusive illusion reached by ruin

how to render gesture
before its mess: prefection

how to gale on DNA
while still revered by extension

the whirligigged dog arrives
bowlegged in blue surrender

how to pierce insistent whelping
...

from The Popedology of an Ambient Language

* by Edwin Torres

And the name of the bookstore?

Google "Bridge Street Books" and check it out.

MOMOTOMBO INTERVIEWS

Eduardo C. Corral and Daniel A. Olivas have generously consented to have their interviews of Kevin A. González and Aaron Michael Morales, respectively, posted on Momotombo Press' website in the "Interviews" section. Have a peek at these latest Momotombo Press website updates. There are also e-interviews of previous Momotombo Press authors, as well as a special e-interview with Gary Soto on the subject of The Chicano Chapbook Series.

A PODCAST

I was exploring the web today and came upon a podcast I did not know existed: it is of a reading sponsored by The Poetry Foundation that took place at The Art Institute of Chicago on January 24, 2008. Linking it here is consistent with Letras Latinas' mission.

Back in the saddle: Letras Latinas

The impetus to start this blog was to spontaneously claim the phrase "Latino Poetry Review" in the blogoshpere. I'd purchased the domain name and then it suddenly occurred to me that someone could still start a blog and call it "Latino Poetry Review."

Before this blog came into existence, one would draw a completely blank slate if one googled the phrase, "Latino Poetry Review."

Not any more. Google the phrase and see for yourself.

Now that the identity and mission of LPR has been established ( the Institute's web designer is working on the template; I've already received the first reviews; we're determined, for better or for worse, to launch LPR, however modestly, in early 2008, etc etc ), I 'd like to properly and more accurately re-name this endeavor, as I have above.

What is more, I aspire to somehow make this very blog a key part of Letras Latinas' activities as stated in the mission statement. Let's re-visit it:

Letras Latinas, the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies, seeks to enhance the visibility, appreciation and study of Latino literature both on and off the campus of the University of Notre Dame. We are particularly interested in projects that identify and support emerging Latino/a writers. Letras Latinas actively seeks collaboration with individuals and organizations in order to more effectively carry out its mission.

With this mind, I'm happy to (unofficially) report that Letras Latinas will be entering into a partnership with the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Red Wing, MN in a way consistent with the what is stated above. I will share more details soon.

*

Momotombo News

dos cosas

1.

I just received an e-mail from RAIN TAXI Review of Books announcing that an online review of Pepper Spray by Paul Martínez Pompa and The Night Tito Trinidad KO'ed Ricardo Mayorga by Kevin A. González is now posted. I'd been wanting Momotombo Press titles to get some attention in their chapbook reviews for some time now (years) so it's gratifying to see this happen. A nod of appreciation to Eric Lorberer, who does wonderful work in "the Cities," as locals in Minnesota say. And a reminder to all that the community-based bookstore in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, TIANGUIS, is now the official exclusive bookseller and distributor of Momotombo Press. Hats off to Irasema González for realizing her dream of running a bookstore in, and therefore serving, her local community. I had a chance, as I may have mentioned earlier (things blur these days), of attending one of TIANGUIS' installments of Proyecto Latina, featuring Chicago-based writer and La Bloguera, Lisa Alvarado.

2.

First order of business, yesterday, my first day back, was to fill the orders for

Braille for the Heart
by Robert Vasquez.

Truth be told, till the end of the year, one of my principal hats will be that of bookseller, where this title is concerned. AGAIN: please consider purchasing this very special title by one of Chicano letters most unsung bards, in view, and make a special contribution to the Letras Latinas Endowment, whose first beneficiary is our:

Young Writers Initiative

And I'm going to be so bold as to say: if you have already purchased one, you will be receiving it soon: when you do, and have the opportunity to hold the volume in your hands, please consider ordering another to give away as a gift this holiday season! When it comes to helping out aspiring high school Latino/a youth who want to attend a creative writing summer workshop, I will continue to make this pitch, however many times necessary, till year's end.

Por favor: we need your collaboration.
And: your contribution will be matched, dollar for dollar.

E-mail me (faragon@nd.edu) your order ($35 postage included) and be sure to include your mailing address.

And if you haven't ordered Braille for the Heart, please do.

Thank you.

Sales Information/Who is RV, anyway?/The Outer Bands

I just sent Braille for the Heart to the author, of course; Diana Marie Delgado, who penned the Intro; Eduardo C. Corral, who fashioned the blurb; Momotombo Associate Editors, María Meléndez and Richard Yanez; and a distinguished reviewer, for now.

But here's the deal, folks. Good news, less than good news scenario:

I hit the road tomorrow for a pretty good stretch. The good news is that a good chunk of the time I'm away I'll be able to devote to my own writing, something I haven't done in an uninterrupted fashion in a long long time. I got a taste of it in San Antonio at Macondo recently.

The less than good news is that I won't be able to roll up my sleeves and fill out orders for Braille for the Heart till October 1. But I'd like to turn this inconvenience into a positive. In the same fashion that Craig Perez over at Achiote Press takes pre-orders before the chapbook are actually printed, I'd like to do something similiar here.

Again, this is not your ordinary Momotombo Press title:

Ordering one is an opportunity to contribute to an endowment whose first function is to send high school kids in Pilsen (Chicago) to attend Allison Joseph's summer creative writing retreat at SIU Carbondale. This year we sent three students and heard back from one recently who's going to write up a little something to share here, soon.

Things to keep in mind:

---Your $35 tax deductable donation, if I receive the check in 2007, will be matched.

---If you are sure you want to purchase one copy of Braille for the Heart for yourself, consider purchasing another to give as a gift.

---Finally: someone asked if I had Pay Pal. Momotombo Press is too tiny for such a set up. Momotombo Press is part of the Institute for Latino Studies which is part of the University of Notre Dame. In order to make this donation tax deductible, checks need to be made out to:

"University of Notre Dame"

I will deposit these checks in an account that has already been set up for the Letras Latinas Endowment and you will be receiving a letter for your taxes. So, either on the check or somewhere on or inside the envelope, a mailing address will be needed. The checks need to be sent to me. [not made out to me!]

Here's what I'd like to do. Those of you who intend to purchase copies, simply e-mail me your name and mailing address. It's not essential that I receive a check at this time. This can wait till late September/early October. If you want to send it now, though, that's fine. It would be useful to start compiling this info so that when I get back to my office (where the books are), I can immediately start preparing the packages.

I, for my part, will be drafting some sort of e-press release in the coming days for those people who don't read blogs or this blog. Some of you who are reading this will likely get the release as well, and I will ask you to pass it along.

It's really quite simple: if Momotombo Press can sell these 300 numbered copies in the next three months or so, the endowment will get an infusion of $10,500, which my private donor will match----if I can close the sales before year's end.

Okay, I'll stop there.

E-mail me at: faragon@nd.edu
Make the subject of the e-mail: "Braille for the Heart"

*

It occurred to me that it's entirely possible that people who have an interest in Chicano/Latino poetry may not actually know who Robert Vasquez is. He doesn't enjoy the visibility of, say, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Martín Espada, or Gary Soto, to name three of our principal bards. Robert Vasquez belongs to their generation, nevertheless. He has not written and published as much poetry as the aforementioned Latino/a luminaries. But he is not an inferior poet.

So, for the record, here's the bio that appears in Braille for the Heart. It speaks for itself:

Robert Vasquez was born and raised in California's Central Valley. He was educated at Fresno State University (BA in English), the University of California at Irvine (MFA in Poetry), and Stanford University, where he was a Wallace Stegner Fellow. His book, At the Rainbow (University of New Mexico Press, 1995), was a finalist in the AWP Award Series in Poetry, the Agnes Lynch Starret Award competition, and the National Poetry Series competition. He's won three Academcy of American Poets prizes, three National Society of Arts & Letters awards, a National Writers Union award, and the San Francisco Foundation's James D. Phelan award.

His poetry has been published in various periodicals, including The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Missouri Review, Notre Dame Review, Parnassas: Poetry in Review, Ploughshares, and The Village Voice, as well as several anthologies, including After Aztlan: Latino Poets of the Nineties (David R. Godine), The Atomic Bomb (Nextet Books), Atomic Ghosts: Poets Respond to the Nuclear Age (Coffee House Press), California the Beautiful (Via Books) Highway 99 (Heyday Books), How Much Earth (Heyday Books), Piecework: 19 Fresno Poets (Silver Skates), Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Literature from California (Heyday Books), and Writing Home: Award-Winning Literature from the New West (Heyday Books).

Vasquez was the inaugural judge of the national first-book competition, the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize [won by Sheryl Luna for Pity the Drowned Horses], sponsored by Letras Latinas, the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Vasquez has taught creative writing at Western Michigan University and at the University of California campuses at Irvine, Santa Cruz, and Davis. He currently teaches at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, CA.

*

And if this weren't enough: I got news yesterday from University of Notre Dame Press that The Outer Bands by Gabriel Gomez, winner of the second edition of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, is due to arrive this week! September is the the official publication date. Gomez and judge Valerie Martínez are slated to read at Notre Dame at the end of October.

BRAILLE FOR THE HEART has arrived

"I first encountered Robert Vasquez's work in 2003 when I opened his debut book of poetry, At the Rainbow (University of New Mexico Press, 1995). In it he portrayed California's Central Valley as both haunting and haunted---a place where "children fell throughout the night and bore the sad face of Jesus" ("Brothers"), while the dead emerged into the hollow evenings "the way clouds of insects lift from long grass" ("Belief"). These images resonated with me, evoking my own conflicted relationship with an incarcerated brother. A native Californian myself, I had also grown up with the understanding that the California with which I most identified (the San Gabriel Valley) was not palm trees and beaches, but barrios where people lined up for cheese and butter while Monte Carlos blasted Earth Wind & Fire into unemployed afternoons. It was a collection of neighborhoods anchored by gang culture that seemed, at the time, antithetical to poetry.

But when I discovered At the Rainbow, I realized...[...]"

---Diana Marie Delgado

from her Introduction to Braille for the Heart

*
One of the great pleasures of working on this Momotombo Press title was counting on the collaboration of Chicana poet Diana Marie Delgado. I think I met her at the AWP conference in Chicago a few years ago. I also remember learning that she admired Robert Vasquez's poetry. When Momotombo Press decided it was going to publish a chapbook of his work, Delgado came to mind as someone to introduce the volume, which---as we can see---she has generously done.

No less significant is Chicano poet Eduardo C. Corral's blurb on the back. I thought this would be an occasion where a more established voice would be introduced by a younger generation of poets, for a change. I mention both Corral and Delgado in my "Editor's Note." But I also say the following:

" [...] What distinguishes this title is that Robert Vasquez graciously consented for this limited edition volume to serve as a fundraiser for Letras Latinas---specifically: to raise money in order to start an endowment whose first beneficiary will be the Letras Latinas Young Writers Initiative. It is a partnership between the Young Writers Workshop directed by Allison Joseph at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, a school that primarily serves the Mexican community in Pilsen. [...]"

Here is the situation:

a private donor who was especially interested in the Letras Latinas Young Writers Initiative has generously pledged to match the money raised in 2007 (up to $25,000) to start a modest endowment that will fund, first, scholarships for Cristo Rey students to attend a summer writing workshop. Among those who generously donated to this effort in the campaign's first phase were writers Helena María Viramontes and Alex Espinoza.

Braille for the Heart, of which there are only 300 numbered copies for sale, is a way for individuals to make a modest ($35) tax deductible donation to a worthy cause and receive, in the process, what will surely be a collector's item. And again: donations that are made in the next three months or so will be matched, dollar for dollar, by a private donor.

Of course, it is always possible that Braille for the Heart will sell out sooner, which is my hope.
By the end of this week, I will outline how the sale of this special Momotombo Press title will proceed. My apologies for the longer than normal period between this and the last post. The books arrived yesterday.

FA/DC

THE HOME STRETCH.....

.....as in:

the next Momotombo Press title is at the printer's.


And what a special one it is!


Stay tuned.

Macondo: first dispatch

Momotombo at Macondo

In the Fall of 2005 I wrote to Sandra Cisneros asking if she might possibly consider writing an introduction or a blurb for a manuscript slated for publication as Malinche's Daughter by Michelle Otero---Momotombo Press' first foray into creative non-fiction, a title ushered into existance by Richard Yanez. Cisneros responded with a gracious e-mail in which she explained why she had to decline: all her efforts at helping other writers were focused, necessarily, on Macondistas---that is: alums of her Macondo Workshop, which takes place every summer in San Antonio.

And yet she did the following, based on her assessment of Momotombo's mission: she waived the requirement of having to be nominated and invited the current crop of Momotombo authors to apply for admission to the Macondo workshop. In the end Michelle Otero, instead of getting a blurb, was able to participate in Sandra Cisneros' very workshop. Steven Cordova, Lisa Gonzales and myself also gained admission to Macondo after undergoing the application process (though Gonzales hasn't yet been able to enroll). Cordova and myself took the workshop led by writers Leslie Larson and Erasmo Guerra. Also present in our workshop was Wind Shifts contributor, Carolina Monsivais.

My stint at Macondo was crucial. As I think about the various discussions that have taken place here and elsewhere on the web, including, for example, over at Emmy Pérez's forum recently, I realize that a lot of what I've come to embrace not only as a writer, but also as a publisher and editor, was indeed reinforced by my experience in San Antonio one year ago. At this point, I could mention who I met and interacted with, but what's more useful to say here is that Macondo made tangible the idea that one of the options available to a literary artist, one of the ways of being a writer in the world is to be conscious of community, whatever that community is---in short: forming a part of something that is larger than oneself, larger than one individual.

Someone recently said that writing is "hard, lonely work." Macondo attempts to go beyond the obvious, where literary art is concerned: "An essential aspect of the Macondo Workshop is a global sense of community...A second element of the Macondo ethic is a spirit of generosity..."

Palabra Pura re-cap

In the wake of Sekou Sundiata's death (and the post it generated) and my recent move to Arlington, I lagged behind in speaking about the recent performances at Palabra Pura. My apologies. Suzanne Frischkorn and Coya Paz complemented each other wonderfully. Suzanne demonstrated that rare skill of modulating her voice in such a way as to further enhance her poignant narratives. Rarely has a Palabra Pura audience felt compelled to applaud individual poems as we did with her. She stated afterwards that her palpable connection to the roomful on hand allowed her to gain in confidence as her reading progressed. She was followed by Coya Paz's compelling poems, delivered, it seemed, almost entirely from memory, giving her presentation the quality of a one-person theatrical performance or monologue. In short, it was a memorable way to wind up this portion of the Palabra Pura season before we take a break in August.

Craig Perez AKA Craig Santos Perez

Whenever I walk out of a theater after having seen a play, I often wonder why I don't go more often as I usually enjoy myself.

I could say the same about Jacket, John Tranter's ambitious online journal: I don't visit as often as I should, but when I do, I stay a while. A few months ago, I was browsing over there and noticed that someone named "Craig Perez" had reviewed Involuntary Lyrics by Aaron Shurin, the poet in San Francisco who teaches at USF and whose work I find challenging. The review began:

In Aaron Shurin’s Involuntary Lyrics, his first full-length poetry collection in about a decade, we enter a ‘composition of surfaces’ where the speaker tends the body and soul of experience in the visible dimensions of the poem. Shurin’s lyricism transforms music into a ‘current disturbing’ every textual moment of attention, taking hold of us at our deepest heartstrings.

Perez drew me in and I read on, and on, and before I knew it I was "exiting" the review as I would a "theater:" I had thoroughly enjoyed myself and resolved that I needed to get to Jacket more often. But perhaps more importantly, I thought: "I wonder if I could persuade this guy to write for Latino Poetry Review?

The reviews I tend to enjoy are those that give one the impression that the reviewer enjoyed writing it---whether it be witnessing William Logan display new ways of slicing someone up, watching Brian Henry do the same to Logan's criticism over at Verse, or a fresh voice like Craig Perez's engaging with experimental lyrics. The reviews of poetry that I enjoy use interesting nouns and verbs, all the while weaving in citations seamlessly. I e-mailed Craig and made my pitch.

I haven't encountered someone with such an intelligent enthusiasm for poetry in a long while. In a recent e-mail exchange, I mentioned him to D.A. Powell, for whom Perez was a Teaching Assistant at USF. He remarked: "Craig Perez!....I wish I could have cloned him."

Why am I mentioning him here, now? Well, not only has he graciously agreed to write for Latino Poetry Review (which I consider a coup), but he's recently reviewed two poets---each very different from the other, but both in The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry. One is a current Momotombo Press poet and the other is a future one. So, without further delay:

Craig Perez Santos on Scott Inguito.

Craig Perez Santos on Brenda Cárdenas.

*

I went over to Verse to see if I could locate that review Brian Henry wrote of William Logan a while back, but couldn't find it. Instead, I found a review posted in May of a poet I had the pleasure of meeting in Chicago at PALABRA PURA, which brings me to make this general petition as this blog evolves:

If anyone comes across an online review of a book or chapbook by a Latino or Latina poet, I'd really appreciate learning of it as I'd like to get into the habit of linking it here. In fact, I'll make this pitch with regularity. You can either e-mail me or post a message.

Here is a review of Ada Limón second book.