Gluten-free Chicano Cooks. Mission Poetry. Ides of September On-line Floricanto

The Gluten-free Chicano Cooks
Chile-Potato-Helote Bisque
Michael Sedano


Freshly roasted and peeled Hatch NM chiles pack gallon-size ziplock bags in the Gluten-free Chicano's freezer. The provender will provide a year's worth of tamales, enchiladas, omelettes, quiche, guisados, rellenos, relleno casserole, all the infinite varieties of ways to use roasted green chile. Extra nice, this year's crop came with thick walls and peeled easily.

Aside from eating a raja just by itself fresh out of the costal, the first dish he prepares after the annual Lascano Pelada is chile soup.

It's a process, not a recipe, and incredibly easy: Purée, thin, heat, serve.

This is the essential flavor of green chile. In a blender whiz de-stemmed chiles for a minute or more, adding water, broth, or milk to aid the purée blade. This produces a heavy paste.

Transfer to a saucepan, add milk or broth until the liquid is silky and it's steaming. Serve.

This year The Gluten-free Chicano got fancy and used that green ambrosia as a base in chile-potato-helote bisque. Served hot, fabulous. Served cold, it's chicano vichyssoise.

Ingredients
1 roasted helote
1 baking potato
10 or more peeled roasted chiles
milk and water in equal measure

Peel and cube the papa into 1/2" or smaller pieces.
Cut kernels off the helote.
Cut the stems off the chiles, pull away loose seeds.

In a splash of olive oil and butter, lightly brown the cubed potato.

When fork-tender, add milk and water/broth just to cover the papa. Cover, let simmer.

Use a blender to whiz the chiles into a thick paste.

Add the chile to the simmering potatoes and stir vigorously to blend completely.

Add the corn.

Raise temperature and bring to a near boil. 

Turn off heat, cover, and prepare the bowls or make toasted cheese sandwiches with good gluten-free bread. I used Essential Baking multi-grain; its sweetness went well with the picante of the soup.

I added crab meat to this serving, a fancy and ultimately vainglorious variation. 

The rich flavors of roasted chile and corn, the satisfying picoso of the green chile, the body of the crumbly papa, are more than satisfying without additions. Maybe add a crumble of queso fresco as a garnish, or strips of toasted tortilla de maíz.

The next day, The Gluten-free Chicano made a guisado, browning cubed pork then simmering it in the leftover soup. 

Santa Barbara's Mission Poetry Series, directed by La Bloga friend Emma Trelles and curated by La Bloga Friday columnist Melinda Palacio, launches its seventh season with a free public reading at 1 p.m.  on Saturday, September 26.

Antioch University Santa Barbara is at 602 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA.

“Fortune in the Fields: Three Poets in Autumn” features David Campos, an award-winning Chicano poet from Fresno; Gina Ferrara, a New Orleans author of several poetry books; and hometown poet and educator Christine Penko Kravetz. The title of the reading is taken from the poem “La Lotería,” by Juan Felipe Herrera, the one-time poet laureate of California and the recently-appointed poet laureate of the United States.

The Antioch campus reading includes complimentary broadsides and refreshments. The poets will have books for sale. For answers, contact Emma Trelles here.

Ides of September On-line Floricanto
Jim Moreno, María Dolores Bolívar, Rafael Barón, Lara Gularte, Tara Evonne

Odilia Galván Rodríguez and her co-Moderators of the Facebook collective, Poetry of Resistance: Poets Responding to SB 1070, nominate five poets for this year’s mid-September On-line Floricanto. Sticklers for old Latino calendaring are free to protest that September 13 is the "real" Ides of September, so let today be close enough.

"The Tongue of Many Tongues" By Jim Moreno
"Receta para ser mujer / Recipe to Be a Woman" Por / By María Dolores Bolívar
"Ay America, ay" By Rafael Barón
"Crossings" By Lara Gularte
“Trump This” By Tara Evonne



The Tongue of Many Tongues
By Jim Moreno

I am the path that climbs the mountain, that eases ascent, that spirits the struggle,
I am the path of the heart―the path lined with sweet-smell cedar;
I am the whisper of leaves blowing on the ground in sacred winds,

I am the tree of truth with strong roots, bark, and crown,

I am the servant of the Writers of the South, Escritores del Sur:
Poetas Paz y Parra, Mistral y Neruda, Marti y Morejon, Borges y de Burgos
Castellanos y Sabines, Cisneros y Cesaire, they gave me my heart,
After Vietnam, they were a basic oasis, a spring and a song.

I dance in the heart of the balafon, kalimba, conga, & Afro Blu,
I dance in the heart of the red/brown nation & Jimmy Santiago Baca,

My ancestors were bell ringers in Bavarian churches,
My ancestors shaped redwood plank canoes for the California waters,
My ancestors paddled tomols to our Limuw island, the island of the Rainbow Bridge,

I am the dolphin of the west helping you not drown in your problems
Because there must be a funny bone somewhere?

I am the poet of passion, the poem of happy,
The poet of break the mold, break the silence, break the arrogant, callous bank,
Brake this corpulent runaway train derailing justice, bread, love & life,
I am the habit, the hobbit of the soul, I go to the hoop with my pen,

I push through the paint, through the trees, I go to the house with the rock,
I am the jazz tune, the story, the truth―the drop of dew on the old lions claw,

I am the walk, the fire, the question―I am the answer & I am the quiet tide,
I am the line, the break, and the blood―I am the eye, the tongue of many tongues.

Jim Moreno is the Poet In Residence for the Juvenile Court & Community Schools in San Diego California. He is a teaching artist with Young Audiences of San Diego and San Diego Writers, Ink. He hosts an open mic, 2nd Tuesday-Jihmye Poetry at the Cafe Cabaret. His podcast, Poets' Corner, airs on KNSJ, 89.1 FM & KNSJ.org airs at 11:00 A.M. Moreno is the author of Dancing In Dissent: Poetry For Activism (Dolphin Calling Press, 2007) and two cd's of poetry and music. Jim has no contract with Amazon or Alibris, so order his book at jimpoet.com. Scroll down for his interview with Cecilia Ubilla on the 42nd anniversary of the CIA backed coup in Chile which overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende and ended his life. There is also a KNSJ Poets' Corner interview with members of the Lowriders community in San Diego. Contact him at jimpoet@hotmail.com





Receta para ser mujer
Por María Dolores Bolívar

Tener el garbo de la alpaca,
la astucia del águila,
la ligereza de la golondrina,
la adaptabilidad de la ballena,
la diligencia de la hormiga,
la persistencia organizativa de la abeja,
la sagacidad de la serpiente,
los recursos mágicos de la zorra,
la cautela incorruptible de la araña,
la risa inagotable de la hiena,
el espíritu juguetón de la foca,
la impasibilidad de la vaca,
el descaro de la cigarra,
la ubicuidad de la pulga,
la terquedad indomable de la mula
y la elasticidad de la medusa…

Recipe to be a woman
By María Dolores Bolívar

You must have the poise of alpacas,
the shrewdness of eagles,
the lightness of swallows,
the adaptability of whales,
the diligence of ants,
the organizing perceptiveness of bees,
the astuteness of snakes,
the magic appeal of foxes,
the incorruptible prudence of spiders,
the everlasting laughter of hyenas,
the playful nature of seals,
the impassibility of cows,
the nerve of grasshoppers,
the ubiquity of fleas,
the indomitable stubbornness of mules,
and the elasticity of jellyfish.

This poem was originally written in Spanish. Note some meaning is inevitably lost in translation. 

The animals depicted take feminine gender structurally in Spanish, 

thus influencing the metaphors inspired by them.

María Dolores is professor, journalist, writer, papermaker, altar installation builder, photographer and social media consultant. She learned to multitask in today´s economy where to be a humanist with a PhD in Cultural Studies seems to be worse than to be permanently infected with a communicable disease. Asked to name three poets? Juana de Ibarbourou, Alejandra Pizarnik y Rosario Castellanos. At present putting together the book Río, FrontEra/ FrontIRA, compiling poems written while living, studying, crossing, teaching, and reinventing thread –in Spanish to tell equates to threading- in the US Border region. Río is based on the irony of a Word that in Spanish means “river” and “to laugh” in first person, as both relate to a river that becomes the metaphor for living while passing –por la pasada, de pasada o de pasadita- in the very dry bed of Acheron, where Modern day Charon is a Coyote and Virgil a Dreamer, and Dante -¡ay, Dante!- the author of an endless and ever-changing corrido.




Ay America, ay
By Rafael Barón

How you forget us
We
who provide
the fruits and
the vegetables
for breakfast lunch dinner.
We
who pick crops
one by one and
picking arthritis
picking pesticides
picking pain.
We
who provide to provide
for families
yours and ours.

How you forget us
We
who provide cheap prices
with cheap labor
in cheap conditions.
We
who provide freshness
at your favorite restaurants
Italian Chinese Japanese
American
pies hamburgers steaks fries hotdogs.

How you forget us
in passing
in prayers
in thoughts
Us
the undocumented brown
the exploited brown
the invisible brown.
Ay America, ay.

Rafael Barón is a San Diego native currently finishing a double major – English and Chicana/o Studies – at San Diego State University.

He hopes to continue his education for an MFA in creative writing. And would like to help others find their writing voice so that they can find the confidence and ability to express themselves.

In the meantime, he spends his free time working on his poetry, a book of short stories, and a non-fiction book.

Crossings
By Lara Gularte

The Monarch flies from México
in a sliver of sunlight.

Alert and calm,
coyote trots across a busy intersection.

Hungry people push themselves
along the dusty road.

Trails radiate animal auras,
tufts of hair.

Scorpions, lizards,
cling to rock face.

Geese leave what they know,
rush to routes of migration.

Carrier Pigeons return with dirty feet.
They huddle together.

Iron doors sweep shut,
after entry to the gated community.

A woman travels light
with her backpack,

desperate to move on
before the borders close.



Lara Gularte was featured in the Autumn 2014 issue of The Bitter Oleander with an interview and 18 poems. Her poetic work depicting her Azorean heritage is included

in a book of essays called "Imaginários Luso-Americanos e Açorianos" by Vamberto Freitas. Her poems can be found in The Gávea-Brown Book of Portuguese-American Poetry. Gularte earned an MFA degree from San Jose State University where she was a poetry editor for Reed Magazine, received the Anne Lillis Award for Creative Writing, and several Phelan Awards. Her work has appeared in such journals as The Bitter Oleander, California Quarterly, The Clackamas Review, Evansville Review, Permafrost, The Monserrat Review, The Water-Stone Review, The Fourth River, The Santa Clara Review, and she has been published by many national and regional anthologies. She is an assistant editor for Narrative Magazine.






Trump This
By Tara Evonne

I’m rich
I’m really rich
I can be President
of the United States
stirring mistrust
and misleading fear
into marketable
strategy
of stuffing
overfed Americans
with my rich
bullshit
swaddling
under the weight
of my money
making harsh
promises
talking trash
in the wind
the almighty
dollar
woven in red
white and blue
sitting ladies
all in a row
bobble heads
in agreement
to every word
I say
hell no
to brown
people
every last one
of them
a threat
to the almighty
great nation
bloated
with contempt

for South
of the border
the sound
of manicured claps
of new world
mothers
posing in matching
white
tee shirts
so happy
someone is
standing up
for them
and their privilege
triggering crazed
cheering patriotism
poster boards
waving
Manifest Destiny
reclaiming
what they stole
(murdered
raped
plundered
and destroyed)
as their own
uneducated ignorance
setting off
hate
crimes against
illegal looking
Mexicans
their obsession
to send back
from where
they came
we don’t need
their hard
work
or sacrifices
what is ours
in God
given rights
over land
taken

in war
I’m good at exploiting
those
who don’t deserve
to live any life
as long as I am
President
supporters grinning
from ear to ear
stuffing their
girth
with lies
like a Taco Bell
dollar menu
happy hour
special
and ten bucks
to blow
extra hot sauce
in throw away
plastic
I’m rich
I’m really rich
I can be racist
with bad hair
puffed up
on the podium
spewing spit
in languages
fellow racists
can hear
that’s right
I can sneer
while lying
about Mexicans
smiling toothy
politics
with a smirk
learned
by sucking
silver spoon
ignorance
I revel
like a hog
in slop

I’m rich
I’m really rich
I got workers
in Mexico
making me
and fellow
Americans
look expensive
in business suits
emblazoned
with profitable
exploitation
in fine threads
raking in
a killing
on the cheap
labor
I’m rich
I’m really rich
getting off
with well paid
security
feeling the rush
of border hate
my platform
campaign promises
theses illegals
on the other side
of slot machines
and towers
trumping up
the rich
and racist
perfection
the bottom
feeders
of working class
followers
going to vote
me in
because I’m rich
I’m very rich.

As a multimedia artist, Tara Trudell weaves poetry, photography, film, and audio components into her work in order to express creative visions that address social issues.

It is vital in her role as an artist that she represent and advocate for earth and humanity in an effort to stimulate action.