Last Tuesday of 2017's Only February

Michael Sedano

It's been a quiet week in Lake Quelafregada, where all the vatos can afford tickets to Zoot Suit and all las mujeres bailan swing, and gente look for low-cost high-quality live entertainment. LATC has the answer in Los Angeles. Details from the Los Angeles Theater Center at the bottom of the page.

The center of the page features news of a stellar exhibition and sale sponsored by Margaret Garcia.  Garcia and her colorist cohort work with skill that astounds and is destined to be widely collected.

First, however, marking the final Tuesday in February, the Moderators of the Facebook group Poets Responding to SB 1070 nominate five poems to wrap the month.

February Farewell On-line Floricanto 
Isabella Casstevens, Caitlin Dennis, Matt Sedillo, Donny Jackson, Anita Endrezze

“A Girls Life” By Isabella Casstevens
“An Uber Ride: This Close” By Caitlin Dennis
“Faking It” By Matt Sedillo
“leave” By Donny Jackson
“The Wall” By Anita Endrezze

Isabella Casstevens (Bella) is seven years old and a French Immersion 2nd grade student in San Diego, CA. She is the daughter of a Belgo-Croatian immigrant mother and an American father. She is fluent in French and English and wants to start learning Spanish. Her favorite sport is soccer. She loves the arts, dances ballet, take theatre classes, paints, and writes poetry. Her favorite poet and inspiration for “A Girl’s Life” is Dr. Maya Angelou. Bella also wrote poetry that she donated to the American Cancer Society in hope to bring some joy to the cancer patients. She is very passionate about gender and racial equality and often writes on the subjects. Bella dreams of being a scientist (to find a cure for cancer and other diseases) as well as being an author.




An Uber Ride: This Close  
By Caitlin Dennis

You could have stopped to get gas, or not.
I could have watched one more episode, or maybe one less.
You could have taken your time to enjoy the lights
of the city against the black of the road.
I could have taken my time to transform my hair
into golden rings or straight sheets of flax.
But you didn’t. And I didn’t.
You could have seen my destination and decided No,
let someone else, to focus on profitable riders instead.
I could have changed my mind on wanting to explore the night alone,
choosing to extend my self-imposed sentence another night.
You could have decided that my short ride wasn’t worth it.
I could have decided that my short escape wasn’t worth it.
But you didn’t. And I didn’t.
You could have ignored me as I sat in your back seat,
to pay attention to the road or develop your recent poem.
I could have ignored you as I sat in your backseat,
to watch the sky scrapers and date-nights rush by your window.
You could have kept with small words and topics.
I could have kept with pleasantries and silence, as I typically do.
But you didn’t. And I didn’t.
You could have stayed quiet about your Great Love,
(then I never would have known
you want to write how Hitchens and Neruda write).
I could have stayed quiet about my anxiety of crowds,
(then you would have never recommended
a longer trip to a quieter place).
You could have not shared yourself with me,
(then I wouldn’t have known
That you were at a crossroads).
I could have not shared myself with you,
(Then you wouldn’t have known that I was trying to find myself too).
But you didn’t. And I didn’t.
We did not take time, or speed through time,
We collided into each other’s lives
In a microcosm of Serendipity.
We did not sit in shared solitude -
even in the first moments
our words discussed books
and education and language and life.
We did not waste time or thought or opportunity.
We fell deeply, quickly, though not with our physical bodies-
We couldn’t see the other’s face
Yet the windows became opaque from our
humid breath and laughter
as you cut through the black and light.
You could have dropped me
at my destination, then
you would have finished working
and gone home to bed alone.
I could have paid and said
Thank You, then
I would have drunk my drinks
and gone home to bed alone.
But you didn’t. And I didn’t.
You did not pass your chance, but asked
If I wanted to continue being in your company.
I did not waste this moment, and I said
That would be wonderful.
We came this close to never meeting.
But we did.




Faking It
By Matt Sedillo

Fake winner
Of a fake election
Shouts fake news
Standing before fake files
King of debt
Empire of bankruptcy
Real estate mogul
Fake democracy
In action
In real time

Matt Sedillo is a revolutionary poet who speaks at campuses across the country. For more please visit mattsedillo.com














leave
By Donny Jackson

The Wall
By Anita Endrezze (Yaqui)

Build a wall of saguaros,
butterflies, and bones
of those who perished
in the desert. A wall of worn shoes,
dry water bottles, poinsettias.
Construct it of gilded or crazy house
mirrors so some can see their true faces.
Build a wall of revolving doors
or revolutionary abuelas.
Make it as high as the sun, strong as tequila.
Boulders of sugar skulls. Adobe or ghosts.
A Lego wall or bubble wrap. A wall of hands
holding hands, hair braided from one woman
to another, one country to another.
A wall made of Berlin. A wall made for tunneling.
A beautiful wall of taco trucks.
A wall of silent stars and migratory songs.
This wall of solar panels and holy light,
panels of compressed cheetos,
topped not by barbed wire but sprouting
avocado seeds, those Aztec testicles.
A wall to keep Us in and Them out.
It will have faces and heartbeats.
Dreams will be terrorists. The Wall will divide
towns, homes, mountains,
the sky that airplanes fly through
with their potential illegals.
Our wallets will be on life support
to pay for it. Let it be built
of guacamole so we can have a bigly block party.
Mortar it with xocoatl, chocolate. Build it from coyote howls
and wild horses drumming across the plains of Texas,
from the memories
of hummingbird warriors and healers.
Stack it thick as blood, which has mingled
for centuries, la vida. Dig the foundation deep.
Create a 2,000 mile altar, lit with votive candles
for those who have crossed over
defending freedom under spangled stars
and drape it with rebozos,
and sweet grass.
Make it from two way windows:
the wind will interrogate us,
the rivers will judge us, for they know how to separate
and divide to become whole.
Pink Floyd will inaugurate it.
Ex-Presidente Fox will give it the middle finger salute.
Wiley Coyote will run headlong into it,
and survive long after history forgets us.
Bees will find sand-scoured holes and fill it
with honey. Heroin will cover it in blood.
But it will be a beautiful wall. A huge wall.
Remember to put a rose-strewn doorway in Nogales
where my grandmother crossed over,
pistols on her hips. Make it a gallery of graffiti art,
a refuge for tumbleweeds,
a border of stories we already know by heart.

Copyright © 2017 by Anita Endrezze

Anita Endrezze's grandparents were Yaqui from Mexico. They fled death and slavery by the Mexican government and settled in the USA over 100 years ago. Her mother's family were also immigrants from Italy, Slovenia, and Romania. They, too, came over in the late 1880/90s. She is the author of 10 books of poetry and fiction, as well as being an artist. She has a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing. She is disabled from MS but still manages to write occasionally.






News 'n Notes

Mail Bag: from Margaret Garcia
Remarkable Arte Sale With Margaret Garcia and Friends

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY
DEAR FRIENDS AND PATRONS,

I will be offering a variety of pieces on sale, March 11th & 12th. If you already own a piece of my work and would like to receive a Certificate of Authenticity, please bring your piece(s). Photographer Martha Benedict, will be on hand to photograph your artwork and it will be included in the Margaret Garcia image archive and the image will be embedded in the certificate. For more information regarding this event or to reserve a spot call 323 243 4513. You can also check and see if your work is already part of the archive. There will be no charge for the certificate during this event.

RESERVE A SPOT
SAVE THE DATE
https://www.facebook.com/Margaret.Garcia.artist

ARTE PARA LA GENTE
MARCH UPDATE

Works by:.
ARTISTS:
BONNIE LAMBERT
DAVID FLURY
FRANK ROMERO and
MARGARET GARCIA

Available work in this sale will be $500. and under

MARGARET GARCIA STUDIO
4022 N. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, Ca. 90065
Magpie-g@att.net
323 243 4513


LATC Season Seats Bringing Business to Thriving DTLA

At $75.00, Los Angeles Theatre Center Season Passes are the town's best entertainment investment. Spring Street comes alive after dark and the LATC sits in the middle of a warren of places to grab a bite and make it a special occasion.

LATC is around the corner from the Pershing Square stop on the Metro. Drivers find parking is adjacent to the theater center.

Use the link below to get your weekend adventure started:

https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/store/28125/pk/91797