Snake Poems
ISBN: 9780816539710
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / University of Arizona Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Aztec mythology;

For beloved writer and mentor Francisco X. Alarcón, the collection Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation was a poetic quest to reclaim a birthright. Originally published in 1992, the book propelled Alarcón to the forefront of contemporary Chicano letters.

Alarcón was a stalwart student, researcher, and specialist on the lost teachings of his Indigenous ancestors. He first found their wisdom in the words of his Mexica (Aztec) grandmother and then by culling through historical texts. During a Fulbright fellowship to Mexico, Alarcón uncovered the writings of zealously religious Mexican priest Hernando Ruiz de Alarcón (1587-1646), who collected (often using extreme measures), translated, and interpreted Nahuatl spells and invocations.

In Snake Poems Francisco Alarcón offered his own poetic responses, reclaiming the colonial manuscript and making it new. This special edition is a tender tribute to Alarcón, who passed away in 2016, and includes Nahuatl, Spanish, and English renditions of the 104 poems based on Nahuatl invocations and spells that have survived more than three centuries. The book opens with remembrances and testimonials about Alarcón's impact as a writer, colleague, activist, and friend from former poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and poet and activist Odilia Galván Rodríguez, who writes, "This book is another one of those doors that [Francisco] opened and invited us to enter. Here we get to visit a snapshot in time of an ancient place of Nahuatl-speaking ancestors, and Francisco's poetic response to what he saw through their eyes."

Francisco X. Alarcón was born in Los Angeles, California on February 21, 1954. He grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico. He received an undergraduate degree from California State University at Long Beach and a MA from Stanford University. He was the author of 14 collections of poetry for both children and adults.

His collections of poetry for adults include Body in Flames/Cuerpo en Llamas; De Amor Oscuro/Of Dark Love; From the Other Side of Night/Del Otro Lado de la Noche: New and Selected Poems; Ce Uno One: Poemas para el Nuevo Sol/Poems for the New Sun; Borderless Butterflies: Earth Haikus and Other Poems/Mariposas sin Fronteras: Haikus Terrenales y Otros Poemas; and Canto Hondo/Deep Song. Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation won the American Book Award. He also received the 1984 Chicano Literary Prize, the 1993 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and a Fred Cody Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association in 2002.

His collections of poetry for children include Angels Ride Bikes and Other Fall Poems/Los Angeles Andan en Bicicleta y Otros Poemas de Otoño and Iguana in the Snow and Other Winter Poems/Iguanas en la Nieve y Otros Poemas de Invierno. Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems/Jitomates Risuenos y Otros Poemas de Primavera won the National Parenting Publications Gold Award and From the Bellybutton of the Moon and Other Summer Poems/Del Ombligo de la Luna y Otros Poemas de Verano won the American Library Association's Pura Belpré Honor Award for Latino Literature.

He served as director of the Spanish for Native Speakers Program at the University of California at Davis, and taught for the Art of the Wild workshop and the California Poets in the Schools program. He died of cancer on January 15, 2016 at the age of 61.

(Bowker Author Biography)


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