
Snake Poems
An Aztec Invocation
Francisco X. Alarcon(Author)
Odilia Galvan Rodriguez(Editor)
University of Arizona Press
2nd Edition
Published on 30. March 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
184 pages
978-0-8165-3843-0 (ISBN)
Description
For beloved writer and mentor Francisco X. Alarcon, the collection Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation was a poetic quest to reclaim a birthright. Originally published in 1992, the book propelled Alarcon to the forefront of contemporary Chicano letters.
Alarcon was a stalwart student, researcher, and specialist on the lost teachings of his Indigenous ancestors. He first found their wisdom in the words of his Mexica (Aztec) grandmother and then by culling through historical texts. During a Fulbright fellowship to Mexico, Alarcon uncovered the writings of zealously religious Mexican priest Hernando Ruiz de Alarcon (1587-1646), who collected (often using extreme measures), translated, and interpreted Nahuatl spells and invocations.
In Snake Poems Francisco Alarcon offered his own poetic responses, reclaiming the colonial manuscript and making it new. This special edition is a tender tribute to Alarcon, who passed away in 2016, and includes Nahuatl, Spanish, and English renditions of the 104 poems based on Nahuatl invocations and spells that have survived more than three centuries. The book opens with remembrances and testimonials about Alarcon's impact as a writer, colleague, activist, and friend from former poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and poet and activist Odilia Galvan Rodriguez, who writes, ""This book is another one of those doors that [Francisco] opened and invited us to enter. Here we get to visit a snapshot in time of an ancient place of Nahuatl-speaking ancestors, and Francisco's poetic response to what he saw through their eyes.
Alarcon was a stalwart student, researcher, and specialist on the lost teachings of his Indigenous ancestors. He first found their wisdom in the words of his Mexica (Aztec) grandmother and then by culling through historical texts. During a Fulbright fellowship to Mexico, Alarcon uncovered the writings of zealously religious Mexican priest Hernando Ruiz de Alarcon (1587-1646), who collected (often using extreme measures), translated, and interpreted Nahuatl spells and invocations.
In Snake Poems Francisco Alarcon offered his own poetic responses, reclaiming the colonial manuscript and making it new. This special edition is a tender tribute to Alarcon, who passed away in 2016, and includes Nahuatl, Spanish, and English renditions of the 104 poems based on Nahuatl invocations and spells that have survived more than three centuries. The book opens with remembrances and testimonials about Alarcon's impact as a writer, colleague, activist, and friend from former poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and poet and activist Odilia Galvan Rodriguez, who writes, ""This book is another one of those doors that [Francisco] opened and invited us to enter. Here we get to visit a snapshot in time of an ancient place of Nahuatl-speaking ancestors, and Francisco's poetic response to what he saw through their eyes.
Reviews / Votes
With his poetry, his activism, and his living/loving, Francisco X. Alarcon taught us that borders are fallacies, violences upon the body politic, the earth, and the human spirit. Even now, Francisco's words and his legacy build the just and moral pathway we can travel toward one another."" - Sarah Browning, Founding Executive Director of Split This Rock""Yes: the slender, chiseled lines. Yes: the iconic minimalism. But this trilingual tome unfurls what Galvan Rodriguez aptly calls his 'spirit book.' It startles me still-this ancestral theology. Best embodied when he sings: 'my people's / past is / my staff // my pounding / heart / the only drum.'"" - Francisco Aragon, author of His Tongue a Swath of Sky
More details
Series
Edition
Special edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Tucson
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 184 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
325 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8165-3843-0 (9780816538430)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
The late Francisco X. Alarcon (1954-2016) was an award-winning Chicano poet and educator. He authored fourteen volumes of poetry, published seven books for children through Lee & Low Books, and taught at the University of California, Davis, where he directed the Spanish for Native Speakers Program. He created the Facebook page Poets Responding (to SB 1070) and co-founded Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol / The Writers of the New Sun.
Odilia Galvan Rodriguez is a poet, writer, editor, and activist. Her latest book, The Color of Light, is an extensive collection of chronicles and poetry honoring the Mexica (Aztec) and Orisha (Yoruba). She is co-editor, along with Francisco X. Alarcon, of the award-winning anthology Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice. She has worked as the editor for several magazines, most recently at Tricontinental Magazine in Havana, Cuba, and Cloud Women's Quarterly Journal online.
Odilia Galvan Rodriguez is a poet, writer, editor, and activist. Her latest book, The Color of Light, is an extensive collection of chronicles and poetry honoring the Mexica (Aztec) and Orisha (Yoruba). She is co-editor, along with Francisco X. Alarcon, of the award-winning anthology Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice. She has worked as the editor for several magazines, most recently at Tricontinental Magazine in Havana, Cuba, and Cloud Women's Quarterly Journal online.
Author
Editor
Foreword
Translation