“The West ain’t what it used to be / and it’s getting ain’tier every day,” grumbles Chicago poet Carlos Cortez. “Colonel Sandhog and McDunghills / with authentically expensive / Indian curio shops. . . . and I can’t find a sack of Bull Durham / anywhere!”
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Sandra Cisneros, who makes her home in New Mexico, writes of remembering at the last minute to shave under her arms before meeting her family in Mexico. “I open my arms wide, armpits clean / as a newborn’s soul without original / sin . . . and embrace them like the good / girl my father would have / them believe I am.”
The festival will be held May 10 and 11 at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum at 1852 W. 19th St. Other writers are southwestern artists Juan Felipe Herrera, Ray Gonzalez, Demetria Martinez, Raul R. Salinas, Jose Montalvo, and Evangelina Vigil- Pinon, as well as Michigan’s Trinidad Sanchez and Rosa Maria Arenas, and Chicago’s Louis Rodriguez and Raul Nino. Cumpian will perform on May 11. The program starts at 7:30 PM; tickets are $8, $6 for students, and $5 for museum members. For more information call 738-1503.
