La poesía no es lujo
para encerrar en un texto
Mi poesía urge
como urge el tiempo
Mi poesía ruge
como ruge el viento
El arte de mis palabras
no tiene precio
Y no está de venta
el sonido de mis versos
Mi poesía es pobre
y aún así te alimento
Mi poesía es pan
para nutrir al pueblo.
Translation from Spanish
Poetry is not a leisurely
trapping of words on a piece of paper
My poetry urges
like time urges
My poetry howls
like the wind roars
The art of my words
bears no price
And the sounds of these verses
are not for sale
My poetry is poor
and even then it feeds you
My poetry is bread
to nurture the people
Poem: Mexican Indigenous (Pirinda and P’urhépecha) and Chicana scholar and poet Dr. GABRIELA SPEARS -RICO grew up in trailer parks and labor camps following the migrant farmworker trail along the American West Coast. She is a Stanford alumna and received a PhD from UC Berkeley. Her poetry has been published in various anthologies including Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas, Poesía mexicana en la frontera norte, Ethnic Studies Review, Feminist Anthropology, and Chiricú Journal: Latino Literatures, Arts, and Cultures. In 2021, she was named a McKnight Land Grant Professor by the University of Minnesota.
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