reading

of fire and rain

new and selected poems by

Joaquín Zihuatanejo and natasha carrizosa

ISBN: 9781618424297

the word

i slit my throat with double edged sword

bent over a white sky

like a mad scientist

formulations and equations

swim in blue blood

i bleed on the page

the sky opens

and thunder greets me

laughing

welcoming me in

he is glad i've finally come for more than a visit

i feel the madness of the poet

who lives and dies a pauper

for the word

the blood rushes, gushes forward

i smile

the muse

eyes half closed

relieved

i never left me

i taste

refuse to waste the word

i produce

i reproduce

i reproduce the word

drinking moonshine and lightning

thunder and I dance around time with felt tip

filling and refilling the cup

in drunken revelation

i understand

i stand for

i am the word

—natasha carrizosa

of fire and rain

natasha carrizosa

and

Joaquín Zihuatanejo

radio, or Online review, no part of any of the poems in this book may be reproduced

in any form without the written permission of natasha carrizosa or Joaquín Zihuatanejo.

Book design and production by Joaquín Zihuatanejo.

Published and manufactured in the United States by Bonita Blvd Publications.®

Photograph by Tristan Bynum

To order additional books and CDs by Joaquin Zihuatanejo go to www.artspeakspoet.com

Order additional copies of of fire and rain, the EBook, or Barrio Songs, the EBook, online at Apple IBookstore (for IPad), Amazon (for Kindle), Barnes & Noble NOOKbook Store (for NOOK), and Sony Reader Store (for Sony Reader)

Also by Joaquín Zihuatanejo

Books

Barrio Songs

CDs

Barrio Songs

Stand Up and Be Heard

A Spoken Word Collection Inspired by Seven Years in the Classroom

Live at Longwood

of fire and rain

a spoken word collaboration with natasha carrizosa

Child of the Hood Days

HOPE 5 MILES

Barbaric Yawps: Best of Joaquin Zihuatanejo for Students

forthcoming:

Canciones Del Barrio: Poemas en la Lengua de Mi Abuelo

also by natasha carrizosa

Books

nude

CDs

mejiafricana

of fire and rain

a spoken word collaboration with Joaquín Zihuatanejo

the dreamcatcher

Introduction

Joaquín and Natasha, your poems are like a satisfying summer rain replenishing a thirsty landscape. They are engrossing, thoughtful, deep with knowledge, and rich in poetic rhythms. As I read I felt in the presence of two old souls penning the red and black ink, awakening to life the wisdom of our ancestors. I rejoiced, knowing that you two represent a new generation of multicultural poets, willing to reveal your intimate lives, your joys and tragedies, and also sharing a profound empathy with the lives of los de abajo, those who have suffered the iniquities of history. I felt freedom and justice ringing in your poems, and I trust many readers will feel the same sense of liberation.

You write from a wealth of experience, touching the soul as few can do, creating the emotional worlds to which all poetry aspires. At times the poems are whirlwinds of protest, reminding me of Neruda and the Nuyorican poet Miguel Algarin, poets who marry the essence of poetry with social commitment. So, Joaquín and Natasha, you join the ranks of those who tell us that poetry can be a cleansing wind blowing across the land, a wind to cool the sweat of workers and bend tyrants into submission.

Your poems renew the energy of the soul, and as they go out into the world they will renew society.

Rudolfo Anaya

Author of Bless Me, Ultima and Alburquerque

for Aída

—Joaquín

when you go far…I go far

for Tati

—natty

of fire and rain

xiutecuhti ignited my mother’s soul

with a fiery kiss

she—tefnut, arranged a clandestine affair

beneath an azure sky

and i?

was born of an amethyst rain

created from an unparalleled union

un amor de fuego

behind the café-colored mosaic of my eyes

rays of sun shine

able to calm the most fierce of seas

it lies in the taste of my tongue

faintly on my lips

sweet—dulce, como miel

passion lives deep within me

my breasts are caramel-colored dreams

that have made the gods curse their fate

the span of my hips, the softness between my thighs

is the valley of kings and therein

the secrets of love and war lie

the mightiest of warriors have surrendered

to a desire so pure and shameless

longing to conquer

queriendo probar la vida de los reyes

yo soy un sueño, llena de passion y poder

born of an aztec fire and an egyptian rain

—natasha carrizosa

mother was the moon and father was the sun

mother was the moon and father was the sun. the moon and sun that existed in a constant state of eclipse, so i learned to grow despite the darkness, and i learned at an early age of the power of spoken word. my mother’s silence and my father’s absence formed cave walls that my grandfather’s words reverberated off of like children dancing in a field of purple simply for the sake of purple, and it is true, metaphorically speaking i am that sunflower growing wildly in the alley adjacent to nothing, and although my petals extend upward towards darkness, my roots extend deeply toward the warmth of all the voices that nourished me, or didn’t nourish me. so thank you mute mother, thank you absent father, and thank you beautiful, all-encompassing grandfather for your words, for your words…

—Joaquín Zihuatanejo

hide and seek

i have a habit of playing

hide and seek with myself

most times i find my likeness

in the corner of a lightless room

so close to sound i am the speaker

covered in clove clouds

praying out loud

that God come down

and reigndance on my soul

shake the wind chimes from my mind

by angels i was told

i was not the diamond

nor the coal

but the diamond mine

and whatever i touch

it shall be mine

unlike midas - more like moses

i have no use for gold - so

i keep my hands to myself

and touch when told

because i have watched the water

become blood

both in buckets of wood

and pitchers of stone

i have a habit of playing

hide and seek with myself

i close my eyes and count to ten

i find it safe near strange men

with knotted dreads

they unknot my seems

with rebellion talk and collie weed

suffering is poetry

surrender is poverty

natty, yuh haffi walk through watah

fi set fiyah to truth

so blaze fiyah blaze

let the lioness loose

you must climb the tree

to know the root

pray sistah pray

cry brother cry

dig deep into the earth

with both hands tied

barefeet and bloodied knees

i've climbed so high

i never left the ground

when my blues become too heavy

i break my levee

to collect my tears

so i don't drown

chant rastafari

babylon yuh throne gone down

gone down

babylon yuh throne gone down

i have this habit of playing

hide and seek with myself

drink until i see the rest of me

i been baptized by tragedy

in love with the liquor man

because he brings out the best in me

i drink to silence my memories

i have learned to hide myself

in the last line of a poem

the bottom of a shoe

on the back of a lie

a peter tosh tune

i made a grown man cry

cause he made me blue