Maceo Montoya 143 Letter to the Artist from His Son
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In the Grove In the Grove An Homage to Andres Montoya Guest Edited by Daniel Chac6n Spring 2008 Number 16 http://inthegrove.net ISSN 1536-1551 The following poems have appeared in other publications. Corrinne Clegg Hales's "Hectograph: Words Rising." From Nimrod. Garret Hongo's "Holiday in Honolulu" From HONOLULU WEEKLY Daniel A.Olivas' "Pico Boulevard, October 1971." from Perihelion and "Letters to Norco" from Indiana English Oscar Bermeo's "Viewing the world from the back of a turtle" From Five Fingers Review 24: Foreign Lands and Alternate Universes. Daniel Chac6n would like to thank Lee Herrick for his amazing support and good will in the process of putting together this issue. This homage to Andres would not have been possible without his love, patience, and creative integrity. In the Grove An Homage to Andres Montoya Guest Edited by Daniel Chacon Cover Art by Malaquias Montoya Spring 2008 Number16 Guest Editor Daniel Chacon Layout Mike Cole Copy Editors Kenneth Chacon Optimism One Web Design Erik Fritz Publisher Lee Herrick In the Grove publishes established and emerging writers from California's Central Valley and throughout the state. Published once per year, each issue features nationally recognized, award-winning writers alongside vibrant new voices. Submissions are welcome February through May of each calendar year. For a complete list of submission guidelines, please visit http://inthegrove.net. Subscriptions are $7 per year or $13 for two years. Back and individual issues are available for $7, Donations are also welcome. Please make checks payable to In the Grove. For subscriptions or donations, please visit http:// inthegrove.net. Please direct all mail to: In the Grove PO Box 16195 Fresno, CA 93755 E-mail: [email protected] ISSN 1536-1551 Visit us online at http://inthegrove.net Introduction Daniel Chac6n IO voices that echo memory i Optimism One 16 M6nica Teresa Ortiz 17 The Woman Who Doesn't Exist Human Resources Practice Oscar Bermeo :;u Viewing the world from the back of a turtle Rigoberto Gonzftlez �7 Andres Montoya: The Iceworker Still Sings Javier Huerta 39 Hideous Sonnet #2 Apt. 406 1 Oakland #4 Paul L6pez 43 The Iceworker Sings Imperial Valley David Dominguez 49 A Letter to Andres There Went up a Stream from the Earth, and It Watered the Whole Face of the Ground Marisol Teresa Baca 53 Elegy The Homo Ramon Garda 57 The Southern Pacific Railroad Mother Visits Taking a Walk Daniel A. Olivas 61 Letters to Norco Pico Boulevard, October 1972 Sheryl Luna 67 Organ Failure Dave Hurst 71 the cockroach people in the movement of leaves, voices whites bridge rd. Craig Pere:z: 77 Astronomy Sculpture James Espinoza 81 Chasing Pancho Mike Maniqui:z: 91 Barako The Feast of the Midwest Sasha Pimentel Chacon 95 The Body is a Host of Want Wanted: Encyclopedia Missing From Move It Should All End Like This: friends and family memory ii Steve Yarbrough IOO Tim Z. Hernandez 101 Instructions for the Altar Confessions of a Brown Lotus Kenneth R. Chac6n 109 Skinsick Where Will this Addiction Take Me? Ted O'Connell n3 Chicano Super Heroes John B. Boyd ll9 The Iceman Speaks David Good 123 Sitting Here in Spring Intensive Care Teresa Tarazi 127 One Day Augustine F. Porras 129 Betweer- Three Palm Trees The Whistle of a Train Road Trip The Sweetness of the Soil Lee Herrick 137 For Andres and Eleanor Michael Luis Medrano 139 Confessions of a Chicano Lit Student Maceo Montoya 143 Letter to the artist from his son Jose Montoya 147 El Circulo teachers memory iii Juan Felipe Herrera 152 Garrett Hongo 153 Holiday in Honolulu Corrinne Clegg Hales 157 The Glassblower's Breath Hectograph: Words Rising Philip Levine 163 Blood pakatelas memory iv Garett Hongo 166 Poems from the iceworker sings Translated into Spanish by Ver6nica E. Guajardo 167 memory v Maceo Montoya 170 From the new collection, Universe, Breath and All "Pakatelas" by Andres Montoya 172 INTRODUCTION Andres believed that in a work of art, form and meaning are inseparable. He once told Steve Yarbrough, "You have to think of the whole book as one long poem and put the parts in the right places or the whole thing will just be noise." I want the same thing to be true with this issue. I want it to be an issue honoring Andres, his spirit, his art, presented in four parts. The first part, voices that echo, is made up of young poets who have either been influenced by Andres or whose voices resonate with a similar passion and spirit. This section includes Sheryl Luna, whose book Pity the Drowned Horses was the first winner of the Notre Dame Andres Montoya poetry prize. It also includes UTEP MFA graduate Javier Huerta, who is currently earning a PhD in literature at Berkeley. His book, Some Clarifications y Otras Poemas (Arte Ptlblico Press) is winner of the 2006 UC Irvine Chicano Literary Prize. This is the same award that Andres won in 1998, the award that got him his book contract for the Ice Worker Sings and Other Poems. Some of the poets in the voices section are working on their first books, writing them or sending them out to publishers and contests, but some already have books published, David Dominguez came out with Work Done Right in 2002 (University of Arizona Press) and Paul L6pez published Death of a Mexican and Other Poems (Bear Star Press) in 2005. Daniel A. Olivas is the author of several books, among them the story collections Devil Talk and Assumption (Bilingual Press). He is editor of the forthcoming anthology Latinos in Lotusland, which is made up of Chicano poetry and fiction coming out of LA. Rigoberto Gonz<llez, a contemporary of Andres, has almost too many books to list, novels, memoir, and poetry. These include the critically acclaimed So Often the Picture Goes to Water Until it Breaks (University of Illinois Press) and Other Fugitives and Other Strangers (Tupelo Press). He's one of the most well-known Chicano writers of Andres' (and my) generation, and his brilliant essay on Andres in this issue not only puts Andres' work into context with Fresno and Chicano poetry, but it also shows how much of an impact he has had on other writers. The second part is called family and friends-for obvious reasons. I'm pleased to include Andres' little brother Maceo Montoya, who is fast becoming one of the most well-known of the Chicano-Famous Montoya clan. I solicited this piece for our book when I heard his father, the artist Malaquias Montoya (see the cover art) read it at a conference on Chicano art at the University of Texas, Austin. He 10 was one of the keynote speakers, and to begin his talk, he pulled out a letter his young son had written him, and he read it. His words were used as that weekend's springboard from which the conference participants could talk about the state of Chicano art. The piece brings to mind Andres' poem "Landscape of Sadness: Letter to the Artist From His Son" from the icewo:rhersin gs. Like Andres, Maceo is passionate, in love with justice and art. He is also an up-and-coming writer working on at least three novels (I've read two of them), one of which has just been picked up by Andres' publisher and will be coming out next year. He received an MFA in art from NYU. His work is striking in its passion and love for la gente, just like his brother. (See his images at maceomontoya.com). I also included inf:riendsand family John. B. Boyd and Augustine F. Porras. Andres and I were the only two Chicanos in the MFA program at the University of Oregon. We felt alone there, both of us out of Atzlan for the first time in our adult lives. The MF A at Oregon was not an easy school to get into, six poets and six fiction writers a year, and Andres and I thought it was strange and far too coincidental that we both got accepted the same year, both of us with a full ride. Not only were we both Chicanos, but we were from the same town, Fresno, the same university, Fresno State, and we even lived in the same apartment, a rundown complex with hundreds of units. I remember his call came from then director Garrett Hongo a week before my call came, the same phone line, the same phone number. At the time, we were both somewhat radical Chicano activists (or thought of ourselves as such) at Fresno State, so we thought the FBI must have arranged both of us to be accepted, that way they could keep an eye on us, contain our activism in that small Oregon city. When we got there we felt somewhat paranoid and alienated, however, the second year Augie and John got accepted into the Program. Porras is a Chicano from LA and Boyd a Native from the Washington rez, Elwha Klallam. We four became friends very quickly, and together we felt at home. Both Porras and Boyd deeply loved Andres, as is obvious in their poems for this book. I'm proud that we four can be kicking it again, hanging out together again, or at least the three of us, spilling forty ounces of poetry onto the cracked concrete of our homeland. Also in this section is Andres' uncle Jose Montoya, el maestro, one of the founders of the RCAF, aka, the Rebel Chicano Art Front, aka, the Royal Chicano Ai:rFo:rce. Andres admired him, read his poetry aloud to anyone who listened.