The North Carolina Literary Consortium sponsored Word Wide, ten one-week residencies by poet Luis Rodríguez. The residencies began in January, 2000.
January 16, 2000, through April 9, 2000
Del 16 de enero al 9 de abril del año 2000
Read The Power of Creativity, the feature article about this project in NC Arts, the journal of the North Carolina Arts Council.
Visit the Visiting Writer Luis Rodríguez web site prepared by Western Carolina University for a link to NPR interviews.
Please note that to hear the NPR interviews or the video interview you must have RealAudio installed.
State-Wide Residency Schedule/El Horario de la Residencia Estatal
Activities will include public readings, writing workshops, workshops and readings at elementary and high schools and colleges, teacher workshops, family programs and more.
Las actividades del programa incluyen lecturas públicas, talleres de escritura, y talleres de lectura en escuelas y universidades, así como talleres para profesores, programas para toda la familia, y otras cosas.
Luis J. Rodríguez grew up in Watts and East L.A. His memoir about gang life, Always Running, La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. won the Carl Sandburg award, and his The Concrete River was awarded the 1991 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for Poetry. His first book of poems, Poems Across the Pavement (Tía Chucha Press) received a 1989 SFSU Poetry Center Book Award. Mr. Rodríguez has worked extensively with gang members to guide them in positive directions.
Luis J. Rodríguez se crío en los barrios de Watts y East L.A. Su libro de mayor ventaósus memorias de cuando fue miembro de una pandilla—Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.—ganó el Carl Sandburg Award, y su poemario, The Concrete River, fue otorgado el premio PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for Poetry, 1991. Su primer libro de poesía, Poems Across the Pavement (Tía Chucha Press), fue galardonado el SFSU Poetry Center Book Award 1989. El Sr. Rodríguez se ha dedicado bastante al trabajo social entre jóvenes pertenecientes a pandillas, con el fin de encaminarlos hacia horizontes más positivos.
Piece by Piece
Piece by piece
They tear at you:
Peeling away layers of being,
Lying about who you are,
Speaking for your dreams.
In the squalor of their eyes
You are an outlaw.
Dressing you in a jacket of lies
—tailor made in steel—
You fit their perfect picture.
Take it off!
Make your own mantle.
Question the interrogators.
Eyeball the death in their gaze.
Say you won't succumb.
Say you won't believe them
When they rename you.
Say you won't accept their codes,
Their colors, their putrid morals.
Here you have a way.
Here you can sing victory.
Here you are not a conquered race
Perpetual victim—
The sullen face in a thunderstorm.
Hands/minds, they are carving out
A sanctuary.
Use these weapons against them.
Use your given gifts—
They are not stone.
Pedazo Por Pedazo
Pedazo por pedazo
Te desgarran:
Pelándote capas de tu ser,
Mintiendo sobre quién eres,
Hablando por tus sueños.
En el escualor de sus ojos
Tú eres un criminal.
Vistiédote en una chaqueta de mentiras
—hecho de acero a la medida—
Tu eres su retrato perfecto.
¡Quítatelo!
Haz tu propio manto.
Desafía a los interrogadores.
Mira bien la muerte en su mirada.
Dí que no te rendirás.
Dí que no los creerás,
Cuando te nombran de nuevo.
Dí que no aceptarás sus reglas,
Sus colores, sus morales depravados.
Aquí tienes un camino.
Aquí puedes cantar la victoria.
Aquí no eres una raza conquistada
La víctima perpetua—
un rostro sombrío en la tormenta.
Manos/mente, están esculpiendo
Un santuario.
Usa estas armas contra ellos.
Usa tus talentos dados—
No son de piedra.
By Luis Rodríguez
From Poems Across the Pavement
(1989, Tía Chucha Press)
sponsored by the North Carolina Literary Consortium
Patrocinado por el Consorcio Literario de Carolina del Norte
Sponsors of Word Wide include the North Carolina Arts Council, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the North Carolina Humanities Council and The Josephus Daniels Charitable Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation. The North Carolina Writers' Network is the project's fiscal agent.
