Chicanonautica: The Moon, Mars, and Chicanos

by Ernest Hogan

Earthlings are going to the Moon again, and it’s not just white male AngloAmericanos this time. And my feelings are . . . weird.

I was a fan of the Space Program ever since I went crying to my parents “there’s no cartoons on TV, just a big chile in the sky,” and my dad explained to me that it was John Glenn going into space, for real.

My little mind was blown. Reality and what was and wasn’t possible transmogrified for me. I was launched on the bizarre trajectory that I’m hurtling along today.

Just before Covid, Diego F. Jauregui, a 12F Fellow of the Smithsonian’s National Air Space Museum Space History Department, interviewed me. I guess it was to make up for a shortage of Chicano astronauts.

I never became an astronaut and don’t consider myself a poet, though Guillermo Gomez-Pena called me “ a Chicano SCI-Fi poet” and I admit that does describe me well though I don’t set out to commit acts of poetry on purpose—it seems to be in my DNA.

The crew of the Artemis II mission doesn't have any Chicanos, or Latinos, or even Hispanics, though they did take 58 tortillas, because they don’t make crumbs like bread. It has a Black pilot, a woman, and a Canadian who, though not Indigenous, has connections with the Anishinaabe and Manitoba nations.

Back on Earth, Chicano have been writing poetry about space and the future.

What would Ray Bradbury think?

Pedro Iniguez’ Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future won the 2024 Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Poetry and has been getting recognition beyond what you’d expect for a book of poems. He’s also in Xicanxfuturism: Gritos for Tomorrow / Codex I. 

More recently, Juan Manuel Pérez–another Xicanxfuturism Codex I contributor–has come out with a Bury My Heart Under the Martian Sky. Being the author of a series of stories about a Tejano mariachi on a colonized Mars (one of which will be in Xicanxfuturism Codex II coming soon, stay tuned . . .), I felt I had to look into it. Besides, it has a great cover by Kolega Soberanis.

I was impressed. These poems show that the days when I was afraid that there was some kind of conspiracy against nonwhite/nonAnglos getting out into space are over. They give a vision of a future from a Chicano viewpoint, with roots in PreColombian mythology, showing a relationship to the Earth and the universe that provides a needed alternative to the capitalist/colonialist propaganda that has dominated science fiction and the popular imagination well into this current century.

[Insert mariachi grito here]

Chicanos are creating new futurisms with the infusion of and creation of a New Chicano Dream.

I have a feeling Coyolxauhqui the Mexica and Ixchel Mayan goddesses of the Moon are smiling.

 

Ernest Hogan is doing his duties as the Father of Chicano Science Fiction while working on making his Paco Cohen, Mariachi of Mars stories into a novel, and waiting for Xicanxfuturism Codex II to come out as deranged leaders promise to destroy civilizations overnight.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has evolved to include live bands, poetry readings, film screenings and artists creating their work on-site.

The Festival of Books takes place on the University of Southern California campus. USC is located in the University Park neighborhood of downtown L.A. near such attractions as the California Science Center, the Natural History Museum, the Exposition Rose Garden and the California African American Museum.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books spans nearly the entire 226-acre USC Campus. The event does not provide wheelchair rentals or motorized transportation. If fatigue is a concern, please consider planning ahead and bringing a wheelchair or other aids.

The festival attracts approximately 160,000 people of all ages each year from Southern California and all around the country.

Come and say hello to these amazing authors.

Anthology & Poetry & Cookies, A Mother's Knife

Poetry is Community: Anthology & Poetry & Cookies.

Michael Sedano

The call for poems circulates in December 2025. In early April 2026 the publisher, Golden Foothills Press, predicts hard copies in-hand at the April 25 “Poetry & Cookies” Altadena poetry celebration now in its 20^th year. Click here for more history.

That’s fast turn around, but it's even more pressured. The Editor-in-Chief sends in January his selections to the publisher. That's three months to produce hard copies in each published poet's hands and a supply to sell at the book launch, "Poetry & Cookies. Meeting a demanding schedule like this reflects professionalism and experience. the publication--and the laureate program--offer a role model any community can emulate.

The anthology comes out of the two-year terms of Altadena Library’s Co-Poets Laureate. The Laureate program itself grew from librarian Polly Dutton’s initiative. In early years, Dutton held a poetry and cookies reading celebrating the laureate’s service. 

In 2015, Laureate Thelma T. Reyna published the first Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology. Since that first book, Reyna's family-owned press, Golden Foothills Press, has published all but two issues in the series.

Of the 2026 number, publisher Reyna observes:

In the 11-year history of the Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology the 2026 Anthology is the largest ever. Our debut edition, in 2015, had 105 poems written by 60 mostly local poets. 

This edition, the 8th book (none were produced in the COVID era), has 180 poems written by 158 poets from across the state and nation, and down under. The book has 325 pages, vs. 178 pp. in 2015. 

One might say that the visibility and renown of our Altadena poetry community, and its literary gem, is growing. 

Kudos to all the poets in this book; to its Editor-in-Chief, Co-Poet Laureate Lester Graves Lennon ; and to Assistant Editor and Co-Poet Laureate in Altadena, Sehba Sarwar.

A year ago, thousands of people fled their homes as miles of Altadena neighborhoods burned to the ground in the Eaton Fire. Today, the region slowly rebuilds its structures while it strengthens and rebuilds its spirit. Altadena Poetry Review Anthology 2026 captures what fire cannot destroy and what poetry affirms and sustains: a community’s spirit and hopefulness.

Here's a link to Golden Foothills Press where pre-orders are soon in the offing. For now, browse the publisher's catalog for its lineup of contemporary views and arte. Attend Poetry & Cookies and buy copies of the Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology and listen as selected readers and open mic'ers share their work.

Altadena Library and Poets Laureate Lester Graves Lennon and Sehba Sarwar, along with publisher Golden Foothills Press, welcome you to this year’s 3:00-6:00 p.m. Poetry & Cookies on April 25, 2026 at Bob Lucas Memorial Library & Literacy Center, 2659 Lincoln Ave, Altadena, CA 91001.

https://altadenalibrary.libnet.info/event/16132810

 

He Finds Mom’s Knife

Mom used that long blade to test the doneness of the barbacoa, the star of every familia pachanga. Of course, the beef isn’t the only feature. When la familia shows up for a party they load the serving tables with side dishes like potato salad, beans, moles, arroz, handmade tortillas from a distant tortilleria, and the always hit of the fiesta, Stella’s chile.

I owned too much stuff when I left my Pasadena home and since it didn't fit in Altadena, I rented a storage locker, so when I lost everything I ever owned in the fire, fifty boxes of random stuff were what I had left.

I lost Mom’s handwritten recipe for the 3-day barbacoa marinade in the Eaton Fire, along with most of my fotos of familia pachangas. That stuff in a storage locker escaped the fires and that’s where Mom’s knife turned up. 

I imagine Mom selecting the knife back before I was born. 

Dad is riding a tank to Leipzig, winning WWII. Mom  lives in Berdoo, a  soldier’s 18-year old expectant wife. 

She can afford one knife and she buys this one. Maybe she found it at Cuatro Milpas on Mt. Vernon? Maybe she walked into town to Sears or Montgomery Ward? 

It’s the knife I remember from as far back as I remember watching my mother cook, using the cuchillo slicing calabacitas, tomatoes, round steak, papas, nopales. 

And barbacoa.

Dad gathers leña enough for a big hot fire in the pit long before first light. The coals are ready at sunrise. 

The meat sits in a tina wrapped in tinfoil, swaddled in a bedsheet, burlap sacks, and banana leaves. 

Dad lowers the tina into the hole using precarious rebar hooks then covers the pit with layers of sheet metal and sealing it all with a layer of dirt.

At four or five in the afternoon, Mom declares it’s time. 

Gente have been singing and laughing, reminiscing, snacking on preliminary food. Tacos of someone’s fabulous frijoles, kids emptying a KFC bucket, there’s a taste test of competing potato salads. This chile is really picoso! Is there more? Stella rattles off her recipe but it’s all in technique, no one makes chile like Stella.

Dad scrapes away the dirt, wisps of escaping steam carry aroma. Stand back, Dad advises, prying away the sheet metal releasing a steamy cloud of deliciousness. The tina tilts precariously, it's hot unsteadying work, leaning over that pit, hauling up a tina awash in red swirling jugo. Two men balance the tina at the ends of those rebar hooks, meat juices sloshing into sizzling ash as the tina tips. Ultimately, the tina goes up and out and onto the wheelbarrow.

Mom approaches the exposed chunk of meat. She thrusts the length of the blade into the unresisting moist tender meat--as it should. She twists the handle and extracts the blade, a sliver of beef sticking to its length. 

Mom’s fingers bring the first bite to her mouth. A sniff, a nod, a bite, a satisfied smile. Her knife carves a layer of carne into taco-size slices and chunks for the first servings. Diners will cut off their own after the top layer's eaten.

When I find the knife its stainless steel length bears scars from many an off-angled filing. It's not a sharp edge. I take Mom's knife to the sharpener guy in Altadena who restores the edge to paper-shredding precision and oils the handle. 

Of all the stuff I did not lose in the Eaton fire, mira nomás, I still have my Mom’s knife. 

“Que la poesía” por Xánath Caraza

“Que la poesía” por Xánath Caraza

 

Xanath Caraza

Que la poesía se vuelva lluvia

Que moje todos los techos

Inunde las charcas vacías

Y reviva los renacuajos secos

 

Que la poesía se convierta en viento

Que ulule entre los árboles

Choque en las ventanas rotas

Y viaje por toda la tierra

 

Que la poesía se haga relámpago 

Fulmine pensamientos cuadrados

Llenándolos de círculos

Y amarillas ondas floreadas

 

Que la poesía se ponga color verde

Que cubra la tierra

Se enrede en los patios  

Las flores blancas se hagan poemas

 

Que la poesía se haga granizo

Que golpee mi cuerpo

Me dé frío y absorba

Cada sílaba incompleta

 

Que la poesía se torne en fuego

Que devore las casas

Las llene, recorra los muebles

Queme la indiferencia

 

Que la poesía se vuelva rayo

De luna para que por las noches

Nade entre aguas oscuras

Alumbrada por ella

 

Que la poesía se haga tornado

Se lleve la apatía

Despierte del letargo

A poetas despistados

 

Que la poesía se transforme

En agua de rosas

Y apague ese fuego

Que llevo dentro

 

Xanath Caraza

Let Poetry

 

Let poetry become rain

Let it soak all rooftops

Flood empty ponds

And revive dried out tadpoles

 

Let poetry become wind

Let it undulate among trees

Crash into broken windows

And travel all across the land

 

Let poetry become lightning

Let it strike down square thoughts

Filling them with circles

And flowering yellow waves

 

Let poetry become the color green

Let it cover the earth

Wrap itself throughout courtyards

White flowers transform into poems

 

Let poetry become hail

Let it strike my body

Make me cold and absorb

Every incomplete syllable

 

Let poetry become fire

Let it devour houses

Fill them, travel across furniture

Burn indifference

 

Let poetry become moonlight

For at night I swim 

Dark waters

It illuminates

 

Let poetry become a tornado

Let it take apathy away

Awake absentminded poets

From lethargy

 

Let poetry become

Rose water

And put out the fire

I carry inside

 

Xanath Caraza

Che la poesia

 

Che la poesia diventi pioggia

Che bagni tutti i tetti

Inondi gli stagni vuoti

E riporti in vita i girini seccati

 

Che la poesia diventi vento

Che ululi tra gli alberi  

Che si schianti sulle finestre rotte

E viaggi per tutta la terra

 

Che la poesia diventi lampo 

Fulmini pensieri quadrati

Riempendoli di cerchi

E di gialle onde fiorite

 

Che la poesia diventi verde

E ricopra la terra

Si aggrovigli nei cortili  

I fiori bianchi diventino poesie

 

Che la poesia diventi grandine

Che colpisca il mio corpo

Mi rinfreschi e assorba

Ogni sillaba incompleta

 

Che la poesia diventi fuoco

Che divori le case

Le riempia, percorra i mobili  

Bruci l’indifferenza

 

Che la poesia diventi fulmine

Di luna per lasciarmi nuotare

Di notte tra le acque oscure

Illuminata da lei

 

Che la poesia diventi turbine

Porti via l’apatia

Risvegli dal letargo

I poeti distratti

 

Che la poesia diventi  

Acqua di rose

E spegna tutto il fuoco

Che ho dentro 

 

Xanath Caraza

“Que la poesía” está incluido en el poemario Sílabas de viento / Syllables of Wind (Mammoth Publications, 2014). Poema original en español de Xánath Caraza. Traducción al inglés de Sandra Kingery. Imagen de portada de Adriana Manuela. Traducción al italiano de Zingonia Zingone y Annelisa Addolorato del poemario Le Sillabe del vento (Gilgamesh Edizioni, 2017). Editado por Andrea Garbin. Imagen de portada por Enrico Ratti.

 

Xanath Caraza

Syllables of Wind / Sílabas de viento received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry. In 2015 for the International Latino Book Awards received Honorable Mention for Best Book of Poetry in Spanish by One Author.

 

Xanath Caraza

In 2019, “Que la poesía / Let Poetry” was selected for National Poetry Month by High Plains Public Radio. Listen here.

 

Poetry Connection: National Poetry Month in Santa Barbara and Santa Paula

  

Melinda Palacio, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate 2023-2025

Poetry at Vita Arts in Ventura

April is packed with poetry. On any given day there might be more than one poetry event to celebrate National Poetry Month. Ventura County got the ball rolling early with their poetry festival at the end of March. Last weekend, I managed to attend the monthly reading at the Vita Arts Center. Two poets laureate were featured: Ventura Poet Laureate Mary McFadden and Millenial Poet Laureate David Olivera. It was a perfect balmy day for listening to poetry outdoors. Next month’s features at the Vita Art Center include Carol Davis and Caron Perkal; make sure to find the not-so-secret back entrance from the parking lot, May 3 at 3pm.

Yesterday, I joined local author Stephanie Barbé Hammer, along with Rich Ferguson and Kathleen Florence from Los Angeles. If you picked up a copy of last week’s Santa Barbara Independent, you might have seen the announcement for our reading at Chaucer’s Books Thursday, April 9 at 6pm. Coordinating the schedules of four poets and a bookstore is no easy feat. Thanks to Stephanie and Chaucer’s Michael Takeuchi for wrangling us poets and making this event possible. There’s also an interview in the Santa Barbara Indpependent, where I answer Tiana Molony’s questions about poetry month and my first full-length poetry book, How Fire Is a Story, Waiting. I am looking forward to hearing our guest poets, as well as Stephanie, who reads her own work very well. Her words will inspire your own poems and stories. Chaucer’s now has a dedicated space with chairs for events, a welcome improvement to their book events.

A new venue for me is the Blanchard Library in Santa Paula. The librarian contacted me and asked if I would offer a presentation on my poetry for their Latino Poetry Program. On Saturday, April 11 at 11 am, I will share some of my poetry and original songs on guitar and ukulele. A monthly open mic follows from noon to 2pm. 

 

What’s become one of my favorite poetry month events, Poetry in Parks, returns this year. Last month, State Archeologist and poet Scott Green received the Director’s Award from California State Parks for creating Poetry in Parks. Santa Barbara’s state park is the Presidio. By assisting with curating the event, I have been able to bring together other groups that I am involved in. Last year, we had Rosal Ortega Flamenco. I met Rosal Ortega at a birthday party on the beach and was convinced to take her adult flamenco dance class. It’s a lot of fun. This year, the Ladies Social Strumming Club will play a few songs. Our other musical act is The Gruntled, aka Mark Zolezzi. We will also have two youth poets, Takunda Chickowero and last year’s Poetry Out Loud winner, Alicia Bautista Blanco, who will perform a Pablo Neruda poem in Spanish. Additional poets include Stephanie Barbé Hammer, Lori Anaya and Santa Barbara’s Poet Laureate George Yatchisin, Poet Laureate Emerita, Emma Trelles, and West Hollywood Poet Laureate Jen Cheng. Poetry in Parks, a free community event, takes place on Friday, April 17, 5:30-7:30pm at the Presidio Chapel, 123 E. Canon Perdido Street. 

 

Poetry in Parks, Friday, April 17 at 5:30 at the Presidio Chapel

 

 

The Ladies Social Strumming Club

 

Take advantage of all the poetry month offerings.

National Poetry Month Events:

Saturday, April 11

Authentic Latina Voices. Poetry, Song, and Storytelling. How to bring your most authentic sef to the stage and page with Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Emerita, Melinda Palacio. Saturday, April 11 from 11 to Noon at the Blanchard Community Library in Santa Paula. There will also be an open mic from noon to 2pm.

Sunday, April 12

The Poetry Zone. Monthly poetry reading and open mic, hosted by Bjorn Birnir at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum, 1:30 pm.

Monday, April 13

Tim Seibles Reads. Celebrated poet, Tim Seibles, reads at the Unity Chapel, 227 E. Arrellaga Street, 5 to 7 pm, host Laure-Anne Bosselaar, will also read. $5 donation.

Tuesday, April 14

Lowstate Writing Salon. Writing Community at the Blue Owl, 7pm.

Wednesday, April 15

12^th Annual “Spirits in the Air: Potent Potable Poetry,” The Good Lion. Santa Barbara Poet Laureate George Yatchisin curates this reading. Hear local poets read poems about their favorite drinks, 4:30-6:30, no host bar, The Good Lion, 1212 State Street. Featured Poets: Clayton E. Clark, Mason Granger, Justin Graham Hoops, Rebecca Horrigan, Amy Michelson, Diana Raab, Linda Saccoccio, Jason Scrymgeour, David Starkey, and host George Yatchisin.

Thursday, April 16

The Montecito Poetry Club. The group discusses the work of poet Danusha Lameris Thursday morning, 10-11:30 am, Montecito Library, 1469 E Valley Rd, Montecito.

Friday, April 17

Poetry in Parks at the Presidio Chapel. A poetry month presentation in Santa Barbara’s only State Park, the Presidio. An evening of poetry and music, featuring the Gruntled, the Ladies Social Strumming Club, poets include Lori Anaya, Stephanie Barbé Hammer, Takunda Chickowero, Alicia Bautista Blanco, Jen Cheng, George Yatchisin, Emma Trelles and hosts: Melinda Palacio and Scott Green of California State Parks. Free community event Friday, April 17 from 5:30 -7:30pm, the Presidio Chapel, 123 E. Canon Perdido Street.

Saturday, April 18

Solvang’s Celebration of National Poetry Month. The Elverhoj Museum of History and Art presents poets Dorothy Jardin, Carey McKinnon, Jeff McKinnon, Teresa Mc Neil MacLean, and Cynthia Carbone Ward, at the Elverhoj Museum in Solvang, 4pm.

Sunday, April 19

Poetry Club. A welcoming space to share the art of poetry. Read your own poems or your favorite poems, discuss and explore the poems in a positive environment at the Goleta Community Center, 5679 Hollister Avenue, Goleta, CA 93117. Free monthly event, sponsored by the Goleta Valley Library.

Sunday, April 19

Let’s Chat About Poetry. Host Laure-Anne Bosselaar asks that you bring in a favorite poem to that you love (not written by ) bo be read for poetry month. The domecil Studio, 1223 State Street, Santa Barbara, 4-5 pm, free.

Friday, April 24

Open Mic & Art Gallery/Noche de micrófono abierto y galeria de arte. All are welcome at the library’s open mic. Secure your spot by April 10, Central Library, 40 E Anapamu, 6-7:30 pm.

Wednesday, April 29

An Evening with Martin Espada. An evening with Award-winning poet Martín Espada, UCSB Campbell Hall, 7:30 pm.

 

*an earlier version of this column was published in the Santa Barbara Independent