Creative Godparents: Poecía, Palabra y Protesta con Amor

I spoke with Noelia La Furiosa de Sacras yesterday and I heard from her el Maestro José Montoya is not well. I fact, I don’t know if this is a secret (sorry but I had to write!). I called a few people who might have his contact info (his last number I had is disconnected). I’m both saddened and angry I have not made more of an effort to remain in closer contact with my elder and friend. I remember when we almost lost Dolores Huerta several years ago. It impacted me so much that I had to write a poem for her called Dolores Huerta Boulevard.

I don’t want to lose any more of our teachers and elders and creative god parents, like Phil Goldvarg, and Ricardo Favela., or good friends.

I remember several years ago, before the “craze” or spoken word took off (early to mid 90’s), he cautioned me (and the other Rudos) not fall for trends, that good poetry didn’t need to be yelled, that it could be subtle and quiet and “very Chicano” without all the yelling or “bells and whistles.” I never forgot that and finally understand what he meant by find the music in the poetry, the natural rhythms and beats and breaths.

He wrote me an outstanding Letter or Recommendation when I applied to the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso (the only Bilingual MFA in the country). I retrospect, how honored and privileged am I that he read my stuff BEFORE I learned to writer or be a “writer” with a “degree,” and that maybe he found in my work some thread of worth, maybe even potential.

 I remember the time we had a FLOR Y CANTO event in my backyard in Southside Modesto; we borrowed the stage from Kinán from ETC. Maestro Montoya showed up with Xico Gonzalez and other poetas from Sacras! I’m pretty sure Grace and la familia did as well, Sal y Destiny and other Rudos. That event in my backyard has been a highlight in my life, one that showed me how la palabra can build and bring community together. My mother, a conservative Mexicana tapatía, I think, for the first time understood what I was into, the poetry I loved, the method of expression, the community I loved and that loved me, and the power of word and song. I think she is still skeptical of the word Chicano and what it is we keep complaining about or “protestando”.

But it’s that subtle protest that I heard in that poem “El Louie.” Hoy enterraron al Louie, and I wanted to know Louie, and discovered I knew Louie's, vatos not in their fifties but teens and twenties, lost on the barrio streets of Aztlán.

Hoy enterraron al Louie.
And San Pedro o san pinche
Are in for it. And those
Times of the forties
And the early fifties
Lost un vato de atolle.
— El Louie, 1969

 So instead I celebrate life and I celebrate him NOW, and wish you better health, Maestro. I love you and appreciate all that you have taught this Chicana de Modesto’s’ Southside, by way of Jalisco, side tracked in Ensenada. Maestro, get better soon; I need you to read the completed collection of my work, work that you helped shape, and the dedication... Ometeotl.

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In Formation: Twenty Years of Joda by José Montoya
This collection of poems by the seminal poet José Montoya, one of the founders of the Chicano Renaissance of the late 1960's, is an historic chronicle of the poet's work from the beginning of his writing to the 1990's. Included is his classic contribution to the Chicano legacy, the poem "El Louie," the timeless narrative of Louie Rodriquez, the embodiment of the Pachuco, who rebelled against the social norms of the 1940's and 1950's. The images contained in his poems and artworks are remarkable. Montoya's In Formation displays his astonishing talent.
Soft Cover, 252 pages, ISBN 0-9624536-1-7, Price $24.95
ABOUT THE AUTHORBorn by the Monzano Mountains in Escoboza, New Mexico, Montoya was raised there, in Albuquerque, and in California. He is a multi-disciplinary artist: poet, painter, writer, and musician. Montoya is a founding member of the Rebel Chicano Art Front, better known as the Royal Chicano Air Force, a group of artists and poets in Sacramento, California. A pioneer in Chicano literature and the use of caló, José is also a retired professor of art from California State University, Sacramento. He is currently working on his next book, How I Came to America, a collection of poetry, short stories, and memoirs to be published by Chusma House. José also performs with the musical group Casi Indio.

http://www.chusmahouse.com/titles.htm  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Montoya
  http://rehistoricizing.org/jose-montoya-esteban/  


Jose Montoya Esteban from Rehistoricizing.org on Vimeo.