Lorna Dice

Lorna Dee Answers Questions From A Student

2011-04-04T22:17:00.000-07:00

On Apr 4, 2011, at 7:49 PM, A. M. wrote:

Hello, my name is A. M. We were suppose to pick a poet that we enjoyed reading their poetry and I found your poetry really interesting and enjoyed reading it a lot. I was wondering if you could answer a few of my questions for the report.

What inspires you to write?

The Muse. She has a mind of her own. It's like love, you never know who nor what it will be next. Otherwise, the universe propels me. I just listen, and pay attention--with a pen.

When did you start writing?

I wrote my first poem in the bathtub to the tune of Greensleaves when I was eight years old. I wrote daily for years from the time I was in Jr. High.

What style of poetry is your favorite to read? To write?

Ha, good poetry. Like people, every poem is different. I look at style as strategy. I actually write in a variety of styles & teach that way, too. I read as much and as widely as I can. I spent decades reading nothing but poetry. Pablo Neruda has sustained me through the years since first discovering him at about age 13. I need different poets at different times for different things. I once had an anthology of Socialist poetry when I was very young, all of my favorite poets were in it. Now, I would say the "poetry of witness." Carolyn Forché has a great anthology, AGAINST FORGETTING, that is just that.

What other hobbies do you have?

Beadwork, gardening, hiking, biking, cooking. I don't do enough of the first four; hopefully when I settle down again. Although not really a hobby, I like to work jigsaw puzzles for relaxation. When I was kid, it seemed the only part of my world I could put into any kind of order.

What got you started writing?

(See previous answer.) My older brother's influence. He's a musician and very improvisational. He wrote stories and poems. I thought poems were songs for people with bad voices. My mother, too, would read poets out loud and play records of poetry: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar Allen Poe, Kahlil Gibran & Robert Frost were her favorites, especially Kahlil Gibran. I always say that I really can't remember a time when poetry wasn't at the center of my life.

Do you write for pleasure or for work?

My pleasure is my work & I work at poetry for pleasure. It's like being a nun or a priest, it's a calling, an avocation and not just a vocation. It's for Spirit.

What's your favorite location to write?

Outside. Now that I don't have a garden, in bed. But when a poem wants to get written, it doesn't matter where I am or what's going on around me.

If you could email me back your answer's that would be amazing and I would greatly appreciate it. If you can tell me anything else about yourself it would be great. I'd love to learn more about you and your poetry. Thank you for your time.

A. M.

...@gmail.com

Hi A,

You caught me at a good time. I'm traveling, preparing for a reading tomorrow at UC Riverside. I have another blog besides my main one where I answer these kind of questions from students at all levels. It's at http://lornadcervantes.blogspot.com. My main blog is at http://lornadice.blogspot.com which you can search for all kinds of things. I've been away from both due to some technical difficulties signing on, but I'm back now. I'd like to post these questions and answers at the first one. I won't post your name unless you want me to. It's a good source for FAQ.

Where do you go to school?

I'm also on Facebook, and once answered some questions from high school students there. As soon as I find them, I'll post them on this blog.

Good luck!

Lorna Dee Cervantes

P.S. I have a project right now, a book, where I'm writing 100 Love Poems to Strangers: for $10+ I'll write you a love poem, to you or yours.

Where In The World Is Lorna? Spring Reading Schedule, April 5-8, Los Angeles

2011-04-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

Spring Reading Schedule, April 5-8th, Los Angeles

Lorna Dee Cervantes

Tuesday, April 5, 2011
1:30–3 p.m.

Location: Arts Building 335
University of California, Riverside

Category: Reading
Description: One of the preeminent voices in Chicana literature and American poetry,
Lorna Dee Cervantes is a dynamic poet whose work draws tremendous power
from her struggles in the literary and political trenches. Her power is channeled
by a keen intellect and careful attention to craft, which allows her to explore the
boundaries between language and experience. Joy Harjo says of her poetry,
"Lorna Dee Cervantes is a daredevil... We are transfixed as she juggles rage,
cruelties, passion. There is no net. Seven generations uphold the trick of survival.No one is alone in this amazing act of love."

Cervantes' first book, Emplumada (University of Pittsburgh, 1981), was a
recipient of the American Book Award. Her second collection, From the Cables of
Genocide:Poems on Love and Hunger (Arte Público, 1991) was awarded the
Patterson Poetry Prize, the poetry prize of the Institute of Latin American
Writers, and the Latino Literature Award. Her most recent work, Drive: The First
Quartet, was published in 2006.

Sponsored by Chicano Student Programs, the Department of English, The Center for Ideas and Society, the College for Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and MALCS de UCR.

For more information contact llasa001@ucr.edu

Open to: General Public
Admission: Free
Sponsor: English Department

Contact Information:
Lisette Lasater
x21456
llasa001@ucr.edu

___________________________________________________________________
Lecture: Lorna Dee Cervantes, Apr. 6

Lecture: Lorna Dee Cervantes

Date: Wednesday, April 6

Time: 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Description: Lecture

Location: Hannon Library, Von der Ahe Family Suite, 3rd floor
Loyola Marymount University
1 LMU Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Admission: Admission and parking are free

Contact: Dr. Eliza Rodriquez y Gibson
Chicana/o Studies
erodri37@lmu.edu

More about this event:

Lorna Dee Cervantes will read and discuss her book, "The Poetry of Improbability: Art Activism & Beauty." Lorna Dee Cervantes is an internationally acclaimed poet.

Refreshments will be served.

________________________________
"Poetry Coffee House" with Lorna Dee Cervantes

34th Annual National Hispanic Women's Conference

Date: Friday, April 8

Time: 2 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.

Description: Poetry Reading & Workshop

Location: Salon 2, 1st Floor
Quiet Cannon
Montebello, CA

Contact: Tatiana Villanueva
Event Coordinator, Mexican American Opportunity Foundation
tvillanueva@maof.org

Where In The World Is Lorna? TOMORROW Night in The Mission, 8 pm at Precita Eyes Mural Center For MAPP

2011-04-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'll be reading for MAPP, The Mission Arts Performance Project, Saturday night, April 2, at 8 pm at the Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors' Center located at 2981 24th Street in the heart The Mission. Come by and say hi, buy a book, buy a love poem for you or your love: I'll write one for as low as $10 and it will be published in my book, 100 Love Poems To Strangers. I don't read very often in The City, and as with all MAPP events, this was added at the last minute. Come tour The Mission, check out the other performances and art in the neighborhood, and stay for music and a wonderful art show by former Precita Eyes muralist, Selma Brown. The price is right, it's all FREE. See you there!

From "Angels & Reflections" by Selma Brown

Where In The World Is Lorna? Spring Readings Calendar

2008-04-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

April 4, I'll be reading/performing today at San Francisco State University in Humanities Bldg room 587 at 3:00 pm for the conference, Murder in the Margins: Global Systems of Exploitation
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April 8, I'll be reading/performing at Yuba City Community College.
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Wednesday, April 9th I'll be performing with Q.R. Hand at City College of San Francisco, Phelan & Ocean, in Conlon Hall, 101, 7-9 pm. Free. Open Mic!
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April 15, I'll be reading/performing at DeKalb University, Ill.
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April 16th I'll be performing with Rigoberto Gonzalez at The Guild Complex for the Pura Palabra Series sponsored by Poets and Writers in Chicago, Ill.
Time: Doors open at 6:00 PM, Reading begins at 7:00 PM
Cost: Free admission.
Location: Center on Halsted, Chicago's LGBT Community Center, 3656 N. Halsted, Chicago
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May 3, I'll be reading/performing at The Cafe Boheme on 24th and Mission (my father's special hang-out) at 6:30 for May Day with Alfonso Texidor and others.
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May 6, I'll be performing at Gavilan College in Gilroy.
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May 15, I'll be performing in Fresno, CA.
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May 21, I'll be reading/performing at Stanford University.
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May 22, I'll be reading for the American Literature Association Conference in San Francisco. Followed by a panel on my work, featuring a new book of criticism on Lorna Dee Cervantes published by Wings Press.
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??? Your venue or event? Book me now! Have Poems. Will Travel.

Lorna Dee Cervantes - Featured Poet at Kate Evan's Poetry Monday

2007-06-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Lorna Dee Cervantes is this month's featured poet on Kate Evans's blog as her "Poetry Monday" feature posted today. Check it out. I post and talk about two brand new poems, process, moving (to Berkeley!), "home" and "ouija board" poetry. And, check out Kate's fine poetry while you're there. It was a real pleasure to read with her at the SJSU Poets Then and Now event last April.

Lorna Dee's High School

2007-05-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

Date: May 13, 2007 6:16:37 PM MDT
To: Subject: School Project

Hi, my name is michael, i am doing a school project about you, i know you grew up in San Jose which is where i go to school (have you ever heard of Bellarmine College Prep?). Anyways out of curosity my teacher asked me where you went to high school since you grew up in the area, so i was going to try to impress him and find out where but i couldn't find it on the internet. I stumbled accross the University of Colorado website and found your e-mail address...if you could tell me where you went to school i would appreciate it, thanks.

Hi Michael,

I went to Abraham Lincoln High School in San Jose. I also went to summer school at James Lick on the east side. I graduated with high honors and had some really great teachers, some of whom are still there. You can find out more about it at my "official" blog [this one] at http:lornadcervantes.blogspot.com where there's the first part of a first draft of an autobiography.

I used to hang out in the school library after hours, and once "borrowed" a couple of poetry books. I intend to donate my poetry library to the school.

Here's a little known fact, just for asking: I was voted "Most Rowdy in High School" at my high school reunion. I also placed second for "Weirdest Career", losing out to a Baptist minister.

Bellarmine Boy, huh? Cool. In junior high school, I hung out with a couple of older girls who always had a flock of Bellarmine Boys surrounding. As a matter of fact, one once asked me, irritated, "What, are you writing a book?" "Yes," I answered, "as a matter of fact, I'm a writer." Seemed like a good thing. I liked a couple of the Boys a lot. They were always well-read and literary. Take advantage of it -- you're getting an excellent education.

Lorna Dee

Lorna Dee Cervantes On "The Poet Is Served Her Papers"

2007-04-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

I noticed a great deal of traffic to my main blog site from people, mostly from Florida, searching for information on this poem, so I decided to write something on it. "The Poet Is Served Her Papers" is from the first section in my second book, From the Cables of Genocide: Poems on Love and Hunger. I call it my grief book, poems about loss and longing. There are several poems from the first two sections that are the result of repeating nightmares replaying old arguments from a divorce I wasn't very happy about. One way to exorcise those nightmares, I guess, was to revisit the trauma in a poem. That's the "fever dream" referred to in the first line, and in the line with the pun on "mare" later on in the poem. This is also a poem about what the media then coined, "the feminization of poverty." It was about a time I was divorcing, in grad school, and very poor. Divorcing and moving, eventually to another state, made for more than a few bounced checks -- and divorce being like those "bad checks we scrawl/ with our mouths" in saying those vows.

The first two lines of the second stanza have to do with being a poet who writes and recites love poems -- and wanting to believe those sweet lies in the aftermath -- to speak to the lover in anything but the harsh tones of a break-up. "Speak lips opening on a bed of nails" refers to the leap of faith required of marital love, like the yogic practice of lying on a bed of nails -- to trust and transcend the pain inherent in the form. "The creaking of cardboard/ in these telling shoes" refers to an early experience of deep shame and self-consciousness over having to place squares of cardboard over the holes in my shoes, and how mishapen they would become, and squeak from cardboard -- the intimacy of that shared memory; the loss of somone who shares that intimate memory: who else could now hear it? The "mint of my mind" is an image of the place where coins are produced; an old coin should go up in value, but here the image is of devaluation, like an old Mexican peso: for being old-fashioned, for holding on to the promise of longterm conjugal love. Also, I have several images comparing myself to a coin -- someone once, unkindly, told me that I resembled the portrait on an Indian-head nickle. It's a distant reference to the fact that there was a time in the early '70s when American Indian women were much desired by non-Indian men.

There are multiple puns and layers of meaning in the fourth stanza: the first refers to the question: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? from a poem, the title and author of which escapes me. And the Biblical image of going through the eye of a needle. Here, like the coin image, it's devalued into angels milling around the head of a flea, a blood-sucking parasite, instead of a pin, meant to be useful and homey as a wife. At the time I was "broke" down to my "blood", or so it seemed; sorrel is a horse's color, a rare mare, sorrel is also a weedlike herb -- you can eat it if you're starving. "A lone mare", besides the pun on "nightmare", refers to how one calls a racehorse just by it's color: the sorrel; or, "the wife." Buffalo chips can be used as cooking fuel out on the plains when there is nothing else; "cashing in" as in a poker game: end of the game, i.e., divorce.

My ex-husband once wrote in my writing notebook early on in our dating: "The writer, it's a cul-de-sac," which was a quote from Franz Kafka's letters. He won me over early on with that line. When I read that line I make a gesture forming a heart with my hands and arms, than slowly separating them, making what looks to me like two cul-de-sacs in the air. In other words, I still love my husband, I don't want the divorce, I want to read all those love letters again in the mail, and not divorce papers I am being served. The painted hummingbird hearts had to do with an intimate detail from the relationship, he was in love with an Asian woman at work and had painted hummingbird breasts for her in the style of Chinese brush painting. I like the idea of a phone ringing sounding like the tactile equivalent of a licking or lapping cat tongue, for example -- the phone which doesn't ring, and change "my life." The "pay and pay and pay" line refers to the alimony I never asked for, and more, it refers to a Ruben Blades song I listened to over and over again during this time. It was about his mother and how she never slept ever since his father left, and how she would stay up and watch the ghosts on the television keeping away the ghosts of her memories. It had a verse line, roughly translated as it contained several puns, about how "the debts of the heart have never been paid in full" (nunca han pagado) that plays on how she never turns off the light. That song is in this poem, the ghost of it -- those dark angels milling around on the head of a flea.

Lorna Dee Answers Questions On Race, Class and Gender and Her Poetry

2007-04-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hello my name is Jessica and I am currently a student of professor Bill Allegrezza's recent writing class. I have chosen your book Drive The First Quartet which I am enjoying very much. I haven't decided on a favorite poem at this time still have about a 1/4 of the book left to read so I can't say at this time. I will say the one that seems to make me laugh the most is "On Why I Boycotted Cinco de Mayo". I have always felt that here in America it is just another reason to party and not only Americans but Mexican Americans even do not know exactly what is the history or meaning of that day. Not to mention we are usually getting specials on American products. I will have to say today especially I have spent time on reseachering history I should know as my mother is Mexican as well of course my grandparents. So that was also a plus to understanding some of the meaning, people/events, and words throughout your poetry. I have some questions I would really appreciate your feedback and answers to when you are able to respond. I have eliminated some due to answers found in my research, but these I have not yet come across. I am looking forward to your return email and thank you for taking the time to read my email and questions.

Jessica

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With being a part of the Latino movement when did you finally feel your voice was finally heard and achieved your sense of recognition?

As a part of the Chicana/o literary movement, my voice was never separate in the first place. From the very beginning, as a writer, I knew I was a step in the path we were creating for ourselves and for the seven generations walking behind us. I was always speaking for and with a larger community - which includes the dead and the yet unborn. My goal was never to be "heard", expressly, just the fact that I was writing at all was goal enough. I've never been a writer who was interested in achieving recognition. Of course, I'm grateful for any recognition I have achieved, but only in that it is a reflection on and an achievement of my community.

What was your biggest challenge trying to achieve your goals?

My own lack of self-confidence - however that was constructed socially, historically and politically.

Did you feel more discriminated against due to your nationality or as a woman?

As a woman. Without a doubt. And as not a very attractive woman at that. Secondly, and predicted and dictated by my gender and color, class; my socio-economic status in relation to power and privilege; i.e., not being able to play tennis and drink Scotch with the right people. (not really kidding, but smiling) As a woman of color I am ignored and excluded from page and mind as writer.

What was your biggest challenge as a writer?

See above. My own lack of self-confidence. But, as one of my mentors, Stanley Kunitz once told me (regarding my shyness), "It gets better."

Due to the history and struggles of the people you express in your writing what do you feel impacted you the most as well as in your work?

My experiences as a member of the welfare class, the poverty class in "America" as an indigenous person of the Américas. And, how I experienced history and struggle as a woman, a young woman of color. Lately, I've been reflecting on the times I've been called a "n..." to my face. And, how power is exercised differentially across the classes.

What do you feel are significant factors in becoming a good writer?

Writing. As I said in an earlier interview, it takes a lot of tending of the crocus bulbs to produce enough saffron for the paella. And reading. As I tell my workshop on the first day of class: "Write, write, write! Read, read, read! And the rest will pretty much take care of itself" - as long as you're not writing in a vacuum. Who you're reading makes a big difference, too. To put the right book in the right hands at the right time is about 80% of my teaching. That's why I like to read poetry blogs, certain ones, I know I'll read something good, something that will inspire. Poetry teaches us ways in which we are all connected.

What is your favorite poem that you have composed and why?

Probably, like a lot of us, the last one I wrote. "Nothing Lasts." Before that, "Shelling the Pecans." But, really, there's an answer to that. "Coffee," the long poem I wrote that's, in part, on the massacre of 45 civilians, mostly women and children, in Chiapas, Mexico is one of my best, I think. It had to be. I like it because the dead are there, speaking and alive. It's the second in a series of four or five poems I consider "docupoems" - a form inspired by my former colleague, Ed Dorn. I consider these four poems to be the "quartet" referred to in DRIVE. The first is "Bananas." I have long been working on the third, "Oil." It's been a long and learning process.

For fun or relaxation what do you enjoy to do?

Ha! Write poetry! Read poetry. I like to dance - helps to get my yayas out. I love and need live music - more like work for me, in that it's so tied in to my poetry. Ha, I ought to deduct it from my taxes. I love to scribble while listening to lyricless music. (Visit me on MySpace and check out the songwriters and bands.) For relaxation, I ought to do more yoga - I've been practicing by myself ever since I was 11. For pure zoning out, fun and relaxation, I work jigsaw puzzles. I'm a jigsaw fanatic. Got any?

Thanks for this, Jessica. Hope it helps. Glad you liked the "Coors" poem, it still makes me laugh, too. And, true.

Reflections On "Poem For the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, An Intelligent Well-Read Person Could Believe In the War Between Races"

2007-03-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Ms. Cervantes,

I am a freshman at Lenoir Rhyne college and am currently working on a poetry presentation for english class. My group chose "Poem For The Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, An Intelligent, Well-Read Person, Could Believe In the War Between the Races" for our project and I am in charge of researching and presenting some historical background for the poem. I was hoping you could provide for me some information on this topic, maybe some things like: any specific events that triggered this poem? what were some things happening at this time? anything really would be of great help. Thank you for your time.

Emily

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I spoke about this poem last year at UC Berkeley in the Poetry For the People class, and there is a video. There is a foto, too, of me taking a break from painting my new office/ living room aqua and sitting on the floor and typing a revision of what I think is this poem, if not the poem before it, "Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway." I'll have to scan it for the blog. I suppose I was around your age, maybe a year older, when I wrote it.

I often say that I write poetry because I didn't speak, or rather, speak up. Poetry affords you the wonderful opportunity, sometimes, of getting the last word in. This poem was "written" in a speaking state, that is, I paced around my living room/ office late at night and spoke the poem out loud in its entirety before ever writing anything down. I recited it over and over - more to let off steam and to get it said. Something I needed to say. Something I couldn't say then. Something maybe unsayable as it is so much an individual experience, an experience of racism. And as an experience, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end; so the poem is sort of necessarily didactic as strategy. And, rhetorical.

The occasion was a party our circle of friends had; we were all writers living clustered nearby and had frequent barbeques and pot-luck dinners together. My best friend was the Chicano writer, Orlando Ramirez and his good friend was the novelist, James Brown (no relation to the singer) who is the "young white man" addressed in the poem. We were all young. And with different cultural if not socioeconomic experiences. I had founded my magazine, MANGO, and press, MANGO Publications which was publishing the first works of what is now regarded as the best of the best new Chicana and Chicano writers aside other writers including the talented and brilliant, James Brown who was younger than us all. And a bit of a drinker back then. I was a dedicated cultural activist, "cultural worker" as I liked to call it - I still am that. Well, we came head to head one night over my allegiance to the experience (of racism) - even though he knew in heart and sense that I couldn't "believe" it - and he asked me that exact question at the end of the night, at the end of what became a very heated argument where I spent most of the time flustered and tongue-tied. "How can you, an intelligent well-read person, believe in the war between the races?" By the time I got home to my little house next door (we all lived in what I think was a former farm workers camp in San Jose, California) I felt like a beer in a bottle, shaken up and ready to burst. That's when I commenced to recite. That's the only time I ever wrote a poem like that. I'm sure I had just written, or finished after several years, the poem, "Beneath the Shadow...", and I was reacting to its overt lack of politics and lyricism. I wanted to write a political poem. I was conscious of using the emotional energy of the catalyst of the event and words to propel me through. And, in no way is the poem a reflection on James, for whom I still feel a deep affection and respect for him as a writer and person.

I don't like this poem. I don't think its a very good poem. Its imagery is flat and uninspired. But I love this poem. I love its logopoeia. I love it when I read it - and cry. I love it when it makes others cry - because it hits a mark, a smudge, a truing, proud flesh.

It surprises me that this has become one of my most anthologized poems, appearing in about 200 publications and text books, not to mention circulated online. It ought to be considered in relation to my other work, about 500 other poems which do other things - as strategy, a literary strategy which is sometimes better than doing, or saying, nothing. The poet, Robert Hass, my "guru" and teacher for five years at San Jose State once critiqued this poem. I wrote it and turned it in for one of his tuesday night workshops. He said that the problem with it was that it was a political poem - and that political poems had to be smart. That never left me, that idea that political poems have to be smart; which I tried to replicate and rejuvenate in subsequent poems which I think of as smarter rewrites of this one: "Visions of Mexico While At A Writing Symposium in Port Townsend, Washington" and others that didn't turn out as well, and, in particular, my new series of 5 "docupoems" which include the published long poems "Bananas" and "Coffee."

The poem is not a political poem; it is a poem of the experience of racism. It is not smart, it is smarting; it is an emotional poem: e-motion: that movement after an act.

I usually present this poem in the context of my pro-literacy nonviolence work with youth. I always dedicate it to my high school counselor, who had once told my very Anglo boyfriend upon arriving at the school "not to expect much of this school as it's 86% Mexican" - and who told me not to apply to the college of my choice - or any college - in order to realize my stated goals of achieving my PhD from UC Santa Cruz and becoming an university professor. "I think you're setting your goals too high. You will only fail. You are not college material." So I followed her advised trajectory: I never applied to Yale. I went to San Jose "City" College where I graduated with high honors, then transferred on to San Jose State where I graduated with the highest honors, then I was accepted into the esteemed doctoral program in History of Consciousness where I am All But Dissertation. I am now a tenured professor in the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Poetry is sometimes the best revenge.

Thanks for asking.

Lorna Dee Cervantes

Lorna Dee Cervantes - A Partially Updated Curriculum Vitae

2007-03-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

LORNA DEE CERVANTES
CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION
1984-present (ABD) History of Consciousness. University of California, Santa
Cruz; concentration: cultural criticism, axiology, poetics, feminist theories and
continental philosphy;
Dissertation: Ecopoetics: The Semiotics of the Poetic Imagination; Prof.
Hayden White, mentor; committee members: Prof. Teresa de Lauretis, Prof.
Jim Clifford, Prof. David Hoy.
1989. M.F.A. as of this date in History of Consciousness from UC Santa Cruz
(to be awarded upon withdrawal from program).
1984 B.A. San José State University, California, with High Honors; Major:
Creative Arts. Minor: English; concentration: crosscultural literature and the
philosophy of art.
1974 A.A., San José City College, California, with High Honors; Major:
English; concentration: crosscultural literature.

Honors, Awards and Recognition
2006. Louis Reyes Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award, Amherst College.
($1,000)
2006. Nominated for Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for DRIVE: The First Quartet.
2006. Nominated for Colorado Book Award for DRIVE: The First Quartet.
2006. Nominated for PEN America West for DRIVE: The First Quartet.
2006. Nominated for Pushcart Prize for poem, "Shelling the Pecans."
2006. Puffin Foundation Artists Grant to collaborate with composer, Gabriella
Frank on performances of the long poem, "Coffee". ($750)
1999. Millennium Poetry Event. White House, Washington, D.C. Invited as one
of the top fifty poets in America by President Clinton and First Lady Hillary
Clinton.
1999. Janet Gray Hayes Award for Outstanding Woman Scholar. San Jose
Community College.
1996. Finalist (one of three) for Poet Laureate of Colorado.
1995-98. Lila Wallace/Readers Digest Writer’s Award. ($105,000) and
($30,000) Community Interaction Grant)
1994-95. Visiting Scholar. Mexican American Studies Program. Univ. of
Houston. ($40,500)
1993. National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Grant for Poetry. ($20,000)
1993. Latino Literature Prize for Best Book of Poetry. ($500)
1993. Outstanding Chicana Scholar. National Association of Chicana and
Chicano Scholars (NACCS).
1993. Dean’s Grant. University of Colorado at Boulder. ($400)
1992. Paterson Poetry Prize for “Best Book of Poetry Published in 1991.”
Judge: Hayden Carruth. The Poetry Center at Passaic Community College.
($500)
1992. Colorado Council on the Arts Creative Fellowship for Literature. ($4,000)
1992. Nominated for Teaching Recognition Award from the Student
Organization for Alumni Relations (SOAR).
1992. Nominated for National Book Award for From the Cables of Genocide:
Poems on Love and Hunger .
1992. Finalist for Colorado Governor’s Award for Literature sponsored by the
Colorado Center for the Book for “Best Book of Poetry published in 1991.”
1992. Finalist for Colorado Book Award for “Best Book of Poetry Published in
1991.”
1988. Outstanding Alumnus, San José City College Associated Students.
1987. Research Grant, Mentorship Program, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz to
conduct research on tropology and literary theory with Prof. Hayden White.
1982. American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for
Emplumada.
1980. Pushcart Prize, IV: Best of the Small Presses.
1979-80. Hudson D. Walker Fellowship, Fine Arts Work Center in
Provincetown, MA. ($7,500)
1978. National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Grant for Poetry. ($7,500)
1973. Model Cities Scholarship Grant, San Jose, California. ($500)
1973. Morabito Foundation Scholarship Grant, San Jose, California. ($750)

TEACHING CAREER

1989-present. University of Colorado, Boulder. Associate Professor of
English. Creative Writing Program.
2007. University of Colorado - half-time teaching in Ethnic Studies Department:
"Chicana Poetry: Floricanto in the New World" (Chicano Authors)
1985. University of Santa Cruz. Instructor. “Values and Change in a Diverse
Society. Oakes College Core Course. Team-taught.
1976 - 2006. Conducted numerous (hundreds) of poetry workshops, guest
lectures and visiting writer workshops throughout the United States, Mexico
and Colombia, for both students and educators.

Undergraduate and graduate poetry workshops (all levels). Graduate seminars: Poetics, Studies n Poetry (Critical Theory for Poets). Undergraduate courses besides creative writing (all levels including Honors): Modern Poetry, American Ethnic Literatures, Introduction to Women’s Literature, Chicana/o Writers (Chicana Poetry) (for Ethnic Studies Department), Crosscultural Writing (all levels); Special Topics - Senior Seminar: Literature of Exile, and Indigenous American Womens’ Literature.

Short list of mentees (45 to date)
LuisUrrea (Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction and the PEN-West Award for Best Book of Poetry), Simone Muench, Haas Mroue, Alan Gilbert, Kristen Prevallet, Mark Spitzer, Mackenzie Carignan, Bradford Tice, Alex Stein and Rebecca Carmona, Michael Robinson are among the 45 graduates students and the many undergraduate creative writing and honors students I have mentored.

ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE:
2001-2002. Director of Creative Writing Program. CU-Boulder.
1996-98. Director of “Floricanto Colorado,” a Xicano/Latino literary project.
1981-1984. Director & coordinator of Native American & Latino writer
series,"Flor Y Canto en San José," San José Poetry Center; initiated and
directed writing workshops and visiting writers series at Santa Clara County
Juvenile Hall and at San Jose State University.
1981-1983. Board member, El Centro Cultural de la Gente, San José, CA.
1979-1982. National Board of Directors member. Coordinating Council of
Literary Magazines (CCLM).
1973. Summer Coordinator for Operation: SHARE (tutorial agency), Santa
Clara County School District; organized workshops & field trips for tutors &
children with learning and behavioral disablilities; edited county newsletter;
maintained office.
1972-1974. Assistant Coordinator at San Jose City College, Operation:
SHARE; edited newsletter; tutored.

EDITORIAL AND CONSULTATION ACTIVITIES
2006. Founding Editor of Poetry of the Americas Book Award, Wings Press.
1999. National Endowment for the Arts. Literature-Literary Organization Grants
panelist.
1997. National Endowment for the Arts. Literature-Special Projects panelist.
1997. Pen West. Judge for Best Book of Poetry, 1997.
1997. University of Ohio Press (wrote blurb for back of book by Anthony Vigil.)
1996. National Endowment for the Arts. Literature Fellowships panelist.
1995. American Poetry Society. Judge for William Carlos Williams Award.
1994. Wyoming Arts Council Literature Fellowship Juror.
1992. National Research Council. Member of data bank of panelists/readers
for literature.
1992. Arizona State Arts Commission. Panelist for Artist’s Projects Grant.
1992. Colorado Governor’s Institute for Humanities and Education Leadership. Conducted
workshop on “Poetry and Linguistic Intelligence” for Institute Conference for
winners of the 1991 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education.
1991. Manuscript consultant, West End Press, Albuquerque.
1990-’93. Founding editor/publisher of RED DIRT, a biannual, cross-cultural
poetry journal
1989. Guest co-editor with Francisco Alarcon, Quarry West #26, “Chicanas y
Chicanos en Diálogo,” Univ. of Calif., Santa Cruz, CA.
1976-1982. Founding editor/publisher of crosscultural literary press, MANGO
Publications; edited MANGO, a crosscultural literary & art magazine;
founded and published the Chicano Chapbook
Series, ed. by Gary Soto since 1980; co-edited and co-published with
Geraldine Kudaka of Noro Press Beyond Rice, a broadside series of
crosscultural women's art & literature; edited and published books by poets,
Jose Antonio Burciaga and Luis Omar Salinas.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (POETRY, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED)

BOOKS
2006. Five books in one volume, DRIVE: The First Quartet. Wings Press. Deluxe
boxed set edition.
2006. Five books in one volume, DRIVE: The First Quartet. Wings Press. 320
pages. Hardback. Contains
How Far’s the War?
BIRD AVE
Letters to David: An Elegiac Mass In the Form of a Train
Play
Hard Drive
2005. Y no los olvidó la tierra/ And the Earth Did Not Forget Them. San Antonio:
Wings Press. (chapbook)
2001. Play. Wings Press. Boulder: Mango Publications. (chapbook)
1991. From the Cables of Genocide: Poems on Love and Hunger. Houston:
Arte Publico Press.
1981. Emplumada. University of Pittsburgh Press.

POETRY IN ANTHOLOGIES
2005-2007. Approximately 24 more anthologies. (to be updated)
2004. An Introduction to Poetry: The River Sings. "Poem for the Young White
Man...". Ed. Jeff Knorr. New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
2004. The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, Volume 2.
Third Edition. "Cannery Town in August," "The Body As Braille," "Refugee
Ship," "Poema Para los Californios Muertos." Eds. Jahan Ramazani, Richard
Ellman, Robert O'Clair. New York, et al: W.W. Norton & Co.
2004. Word of Mouth: Poems Featured On All Things Considered. "Bananas."
Ed. Catherine Bowman. New York: A Vintage Original/Random House.
2004. Writing On the Edge: A Borderlands Reader. "Poem for the Young White
Man...". Ed. Tom Miller. University of Arizona Press.
2004. The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition. "Poem for
the Young White Man..." and "Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway." Ed. John
Lauter. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.
2004. Discovering Literatur: Stories, Poems, Plays. Third Edition. "Freeway
280" & "Refugee Ship." Eds. Hans Guth & Gabrielle Rico. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
2004. Digging In: Literature for Developing Writers. "Cannery Town In August."
Ed. Albert Garcia. Pearson/Prentice Hall. New Jersey.
2004. Talking Race In the Classroom. "Poem for the Young White Man...". Ed.
Jane Bolgatz. Teacher's College Press. Columbia University. New York &
London.
2004. American Literature, Volume 2. "Refugee Ship." Ed. William E. Cain.
Penguin Academics, Pearson/Longman. New York, London, Toronto,
Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Madrid, Munich, Paris, Capetown, Montreal, et al.
2004. Critical Literacies: A Reader for Marquette University’s First Year English
Program. "Poem for the Young White Man...". Ed. Krista Ratcliffe. Pearson
Custom Publishing. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
2004. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. "To
We Who Were Saved by the Stars." Ed. Michael Meyer. Beford/St. Martin's.
Boston & New York.
2004. Journey to Racial Healing: A Formation Process for Parish Teams.
"Poem for the Young White Man...". Omaha Catholic Parishes. Omaha,
Nebraska.
2004. The Portable Poetry Workshop. "Colorado Blvd." Ed. Jack Meyers.
Thomson Wadsworth. US, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, U.K.
2004. Dreams and Inward Journeys: A Rhetoric and Reader for Writers.
"Emplumada." Eds. Marjorie Ford & Jon Ford. Pearson/Longman. New York,
London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Madrid, Munich, Paris,
Capetown, Montreal, et al.
2004. Writing as Citizens of a Diverse World: English 101 Reader. "Barco de
Refugiados" and "Refugee Ship." Dept. of English, Miami University. Hayden
McNeil. Miami, Florida.
2004. U.S. Latino Literature Today. "Refugee Ship." Ed. Gabriela Baeza
Ventura. Pearson/Longman. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo,
Singapore, Madrid, Munich, Paris, Capetown, Montreal, et al.
2000. Literature and Society: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Non-
Fiction. Third Edition. “Cannery Town in August.” Eds. Pamela J. Annas &
Robert Rosen. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
2000. Sisters of the Extreme. “Meeting Mescalito At Oak Hill Cemetary”. Eds.
Cynthia Palmer & Michael Horowitz. Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press.
1999. Fooling With Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft. Bill Moyers.
“Lorna Dee Cervantes.” Interview with Bill Moyers. “For Virginia Chavez,”
“Summer Ends Too Soon,” “Poet’s Progress.” New York: William Morrow and
Company, Inc.
1999. Strategies for Successful Writing, Fifth Edition. “Cannery Town in
August.” Eds. James A. Reinking, et al. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
1999. The Natural World: Selected Readings on Single Topics. “Emplumada.”
Eds. Marjorie Ford & John Ford. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin
Company.
1998. Creating Community in a Changing World. Second Edition. “Cannery
Town in August.” Eds. Kim Chuppa-Cornell, et al. New York, et al: The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
1998. The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. II., Third Edition.
“Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway,” “Poem for the Young White Man Who
Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War
Between Races,” “Macho,” “Bananas.” Eds. Paul Lauter, et al. Lexington,
MA: D.C. Heath & Company.
1998. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume 2. Fifth Edition.
“Uncle’s First Rabbit,” “For Virginia Chavez,” “Visions of Mexico While at A
Writing Symposium in Port Townsend, Washington,” “The Body As Braille,”
“Emplumada,” “My Dinner With Your Memory." Ed. Nina Baym. New York &
London: W.W. Norton and Company.
1998. Touching the Fire: Fifteen Poets of Today's Latino Renaissance. “The
Poet Is Served Her Papers," "The Levee: Letter to No One," "An Interpretation
of Dinner by the Uninvited Guest," "Starfish," "To We Who Were Saved by the
Stars," "Isla Mujeres," "A un Desconocido," "On the Poet Coming of Age,"
"First Beating," and "Archeology.” Ed. Ray Gonzalez. New York, et al.:
Anchor Books/Doubleday.
1998. The Floating Borderlands: Twenty-five Years of U.S. Hispanic Literature.
“Heritage,” “Refugee Ship,” “You Are Like A Weed,” “Blue Full Moon in Witch,”
“From the Cables of Genocide,” “On Love and Hunger.” Ed. Lauro Flores.
Seattle & London: University of Washington Press.
1998. Literature Connections: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and
Related Readings. “This Morning There Were Rainbows in the Sprinklers.”
Evanston, Ill., Boston & Dallas: McDougal Littell, A Houghton Mifflin
Company.
1997. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. Second Edition.
“Cannery Town in August,” “For Virginia Chavez,” “Emplumada,” “On Touring
Her Hometown” & "Y Volver." Eds. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar.
New York & London: W.W. Norton & Co.
1997. Beyond Portia: Women, Law & Literature in the United States. “Beneath
the Shadow of the Freeway.” Eds. Jacqueline St. Joan & Annette Bennington
McElhiney. Boston, Mass.: Northeastern University Press.
1997. The Hispanic Literary Companion. “Pleiades from the Cables of
Genocide” & "Refugee Ship." Ed. Nicolás Kanellos. Detroit, New York,
Toronto & London: Visible Ink Press/Gale Research.
1997. Issues Across the Curriculum: Reading, Writing, Research. “Refugee
Ship.” Eds. Dolores LaGuardia & Hans Guth. Mountain View, Calif., London
& Toronto: Mayfield Publishing Company.
1997. Prentice Hall Choices in Literature: Myself, My World. “This Morning
There Were Rainbows in the Sprinklers.” Eds. Elizabeth Ferreira-Alves, et al.
New Jersey & Mass.: Prentice Hall.
1997. Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.
“Poem for the Young White Man....” Eds. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters.
Boston, Mass.: Bedford Books.
1997. Prentice Hall Selecciones Literarias. Ed. Jacqueline Kiraithe-Córdova.
“Esta mañana había un arco iris en la regadera.” Upper Saddle River, NJ &
Needham, Mass.: Prentice Hall.
1997. Prentice Hall Selecciones Literarias: Teachers Manual. Ed. Jacqueline
Kiraithe-Córdova. “This Morning There Were Rainbows in the Sprinklers.”
Upper Saddle River, NJ & Needham, Mass.: Prentice Hall.
1997. Discovering Literature: Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Second Edition.
“Freeway 280” & “Refugee Ship.” Eds. Hans Guth & Gabrielle L. Rico.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: A Blair Press Book/ Prentice Hall.
1997. Changer L'Amérique: Anthologie de la poésie protestataire des USA
(1980-1995). “Poéme pour le jeune homme blanc qui m'a demandé comment
une personne intelligente et cultivée comme moi pouvait croire ´a la guerre
entre les races.” Tr. Lucien Suel & Gilles- B.Vacon. Eds. Eliot Katz & Christian
Haye. Rhone-Alpes: Le Temps des CeRISES, Maison de la Poésie.
1997. Chicana Feminist Thought: Basic Historical Writings. “Para un
Revolucionario.” Ed. Alma M. Garcia. New York & London: Routledge.
1997. Migrant Song: Politics and Process in Contemporary Chicano
Literature. “Emplumada.” Ed. Teresa McKenna. Austin: University of Texas
Press.
1997. Floricanto Sí: A collection of Latina Poetry. “Beneath the Shadow of the
Freeway," "Bird Ave," "On Love and Hunger," "Emplumada," and "Lápiz Azul.”
Eds. Bryce Milligan, Mary Guerrero Milligan, and Angela de Hoyos. New
York, et al: Penguin Books
1996. This Far Together: Haight Ashbury Literary Journal Anthology (1980
-1995). “This Morning,” “Lots: 1,” “Visions of Mexico While at a Writing
Symposium in Port Townsend, Washington” & “Beneath the Shadow of the
Freeway.” Eds. Joanne Hotchkiss, et al. San Francisco, CA: Haight Ashbury
Literary Journal.
1996. Literature and Integrated Studies (Grade Six). “Thinking.” Glenview, Ill.,
et al.: ScottForesman, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers.
1996. Adventures in Reading (High School text.) “Starfish.” Austin, New York,
et al” Holt, Rinehart and Winston/Harcourt Brace & Co.
1996. Poetry of the American West: A Columbia Anthology. “Freeway 280” &
“Colorado Blvd.” Ed. Alison Hawthorne Deming. New York & Chichester,
West Sussex: Columbia University Press.
1996. The Language of Literature: American Literature. “Refugee Ship.” Eds.
Arthur N. Applebee, et al. Evanston, Ill., Boston & Dallas: McDougal Littell, A
Houghton Mifflin Co.
1996. Under the Pomegranate Tree: Latino Erotica.. “Isla Mujeres” & “On the
Poet Coming of Age.” Ed. Ray Gonzalez. New York, et al: Pocket Books.
1996. Approaching Poetry. “Poem for the Young White Man....” Eds. Jack
Ridland & Peter J. Schakel. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
1996. Middle Grades Literature Series for Prentice Hall, Grade 8. “This
Morning There Were Rainbows in the Sprinklers.” Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
1996. Literature: Reading and Responding to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the
Essay. “Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent,
Well-Read Person Could Believe in the War Between Races.” Ed. Joel
Wingard. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers.
1996. Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. “Refugee Ship.”
Ed. Helen Vendler. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press.
1996. Chicana Creativity & Criticism, Second Edition: New Frontiers in
American Literature. “First Beating,” “Astro-No-Mía,” “Bananas,” & “Bird Ave.”
Eds. María Herrera-Sobek & Helena María Viramontes. University of New
Mexico Press.
1996. Discovering Literature: Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. “Freeway 280” &
“Refugee Ship.” Eds. Hans Guth & Gabrielle L. Rico. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
A Blair Press Book/Prentice Hall.
1996. Writers of America: Latino Voices . “Refugee Ship.” Ed. Frances R.
Aparicio. Brookfield, Ct: The Millbrook Press.
1995. Hispanic American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology.
“Refugee Ship,” “Heritage,” “The Poet is Served Her Papers,” & “Pleiades
from the Cables of Genocide.” Ed. Nicolas Kanellos. New York:
HarperCollins Literary Mosaic Series, HarperCollins College Publishers.
1995. TumbleWords: Writers Reading the West. “Ode a las Gatas.” Ed.
William L. Fox. Reno, Las Vegas, London: University of Nevada Press.
1995. Literature: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. “Poem for the Young
White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-Read Person Could
Believe in the War Between Races.” Ed. Joel Wingard. Glenview, Ill., et al:
HarperCollins College Publishers.
1995. Letters to America: Contemporary Poetry on Race. “Poem for the
Young White Man....” Ed. Jim Daniels. Detroit: Wayne State University
Press.
1995. Paper Dance: 55 Latino Poets. “The Poet is Served Her Papers,” “Blue
Full Moon in Witch,” and “From the Cables of Genocide.” Eds. Leroy
Quintana and Virgil Suarez. New York: Persea Books, Inc.
1995. Daughters of the Fifth Sun: A Collection of Latina Fiction and Poetry
“Bananas.” Eds. Bryce Milligan, Mary Guerrero Milligan, and Angela de
Hoyos. New York: Riverhead Books, a Division of G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
1995. The Bedford Introduction to Literature, Fourth Edition. “Poem for the
Young White Man....” Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford Books of St.
Martin’s Press.
1995. Literature Across Cultures. “Poem for the Young White Man....” Eds.
Sheena Gillespie, Terezinha Fonseca, and Carol Sanger. Boston, et al: Allyn
and Bacon, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1995. Poetry: An Introduction. “Poem for the Young White Man....” Ed.
Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press.
1995. The Woman that I Am: The Literature and Culture of Contemporary
Women of Color. “Poem for the Young White Man....” Ed. D. Soyini Madison.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, Inc.
1995. Poems: American Themes, Second Edition. “Starfish.” Ed. William C.
Bassell. New York: Amsco School Publications, Inc.
1995. Writing Exploratory Essays. “Poem for the Young White Man....” Ed.
Steven M. Strang. Mountain View, CA, London & Toronto: Mayfield
Publishing Company.
1995. Literature: The Evolving Canon. “Poem for the Young White Man....” Ed.
Sven Birkerts. Boston, London, et al: Allyn & Bacon.
1995. Currents from the Dancing River: Contemporary Latino Fiction,
Nonfiction, and Poetry. “Santa Cruz,” “Flatirons,” and “Shooting the Wren.”
Ed. Ray Gonzalez. San Diego, New York & London: A Harvest Original,
Harcourt Brace & Company.
1995. New Worlds of Literature: Writings from America’s Many Cultures,
Second Edition. “Freeway 280,” “Heritage,” and “Refugee Ship.” Eds.
Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Co.
1994. In Other Words: Literature by Latinas of the United States. “Poem for the
Young White Man...,” “Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway,” “For Virginia
Chavez,” “Astro-No-Mia,” & “Plieades from the Cables of Genocide.” Ed.
Roberta Fernandez. Houston, TX: Arte Público Press.
1994. Hispanic, Female and Young. “Refugee Ship,” “The Beauty of Me and
My People,” “This Morning There were Rainbows in the Sprinklers,”
“Thinking,” & “Which Line is This? I Forget.” Ed. Phyllis Tashlik. Houston, TX:
Piñata Books, a Division of Arte Público Press.
1994. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Fourth Edition, Volume 2.
“Uncle’s First Rabbit,” “For Virginia Chavez,” “Visions of Mexico While at a
Writing Symposium in Port Townsend, Washington,” “The Body as Braille,”
“Emplumada,” & “My Dinner with your Memory.” Eds. Nina Baym, et al. New
York and London: W.W. Norton & Company.
1994. Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary American Ethnic
Poetry. “Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent,
Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War Between Races.” Eds. Maria
Mazziotti Gillan & Jennifer Gillan. New York, et al: Penguin Books.
1994. Bridges: Literature Across Cultures. “Refugee Ship.” Eds. Gilbert H.
Muller and John Williams. New York, et al: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
1994. American Studies Album: Literature, Historical Documents, and Visual
Art. “Refugee Ship.” Eds. Tom Barefield, et al. Foreword by Annie Dillard.
Glenview, Ill., et al: ScottForesman, a Division of HarperCollins Publishers.
1994. Imagining Worlds. “Cannery Town in August.” Eds. Jon and Marjorie
Ford. New York, et al: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
1994. American Visions: Muliticultural Literature for Writers. “Refugee Ship.”
Eds. Delores la Guardia and Hans Guth. Mountain View, CA, London, et al:
Mayfield Publishing Company.
1994. Latinos. “Refugee Ship.” New York and London: W.W. Norton &
Company.
1994. Writing Poetry. “Macho.” New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanivich College
Publishers.
1994. Contemporary Multicultural Literature. “Refugee Ship.” New York: St
Martin’s Press.
1994. Understanding Literatures. “Uncle’s First Rabbit” & “Visions of Mexico
While at a Writing Symposium in Port Townsend, Washington.” Ed. James
Hurt. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.
1994. Connections: A MultiCultural Reader. “Refugee Ship.” Eds. Delores la
Guardia and Hans Guth. Mountain View, CA, London, et al: Mayfield
Publishing Company.
1994. Writing for Change: A Community Reader. “Cannery Town in August.”
Eds. Ann Watters and Marjorie Ford. Glenview, Ill., et al: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
1994. The McGraw-Hill Introduction to Literature, Second edition. “Refugee
Ship.” Eds. Gilbert H. Muller and John Williams. New York, et al: McGraw-
Hill, Inc.
1994. Hispanic American Literature, A brief Introduction and Anthology.
“Refugee Ship,” “Heritage,” “The Poet is Served Her Papers,” & “Plieades
from the Cables of Genocide.” Ed. Nicolas Kanellos. New York: Harper
Collins College Publishers.
1994. Legacies. “Uncle’s First Rabbit.” Ed. Carley Bogarad & Jan Schmidt.
Fort Worth, Texas, et al.: Harcourt-Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
1994. The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. II., Second Edition.
“Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway,” “Poem for the Young White Man Who
Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War
Between Races,” & “Macho.” Eds. Paul Lauter, et al. Lexington, MA: D.C.
Heath & Company.
1994. An Introduction to Literature. an expanded edition. “Refugee Ship.” Eds.
Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers.
1993. No More Masks!: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Women
Poets. Newly revised and expanded. Ed. Florence Howe. New York:
HarperPerennial.
1993. Discovering Poetry. “Freeway 280,” “Poem for the Young White Man
Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the
War Between Races,” & “Refugee Ship.” Eds. Hans Guth & Gabrielle L. Rico.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: A Blair Press Book/ Prentice Hall.
1993. Primus. “Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an
Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War Between Races.” Eds.
Dvorak, et al. Michigan State University: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
1993. Tapestry: A Multicultural Anthology. “Refugee Ship.” Ed. Alan Purves.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Globe Book Company, A Division of Simon
and Shuster.
1993. After Aztlán. “A las Gatas,” “The Levee: Letter to No One,” “Night Stand,”
& “Drawings: For John Who Said to Write about True Love.” Ed. Ray
Gonzalez. Boston, MA: Godine, Inc.
1993. Prentice Hall Literature , 3rd edition (textbook for grades 6-12). “Freeway
280.” New York: Prentice Hall.
1993. The Woman that I Am: Literature and Culture of Women of Color.
“Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-
Read Person, Could Believe in the War Between Races.” Ed. D. Soyini
Madison. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
1993. Literature for Composition. “Refugee Ship.” Ed. Sven Birkerts. New
York: Allyn & Bacon.
1993. Decade II: A 20th Anniversary Celebration, “The Poet is Served Her
Papers,” “Blue Full Moon in Witch,” “From the Cables of Genocide,” “On Love
and Hunger” and “The Captive’s Verses” in Eds. Julián Olivares & Evangelina
Vigil-Piñon. Houston, TX: Arte Público Press.
1993. Parallels: Artists and Poets. “Como lo Siento.” Eds. Oriole Farb
Feshbach, et al. New York: Midmarch Arts Press.
1993. Vous avez dit Chicano: anthologie thematique de poesie chicano.
“Barco de Refugiados/Radeau de refugies.” Ed. and Trans. Elyette
Benjamin-Labarthe. Bordeaux, FRANCE: Editions de la Maison des
Sciences de l’Homme de’Aquitaine.
1993. Power Poetics: Women and Literature, 1945 to the Present. “Refugee
Ship” and “Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an
Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War Between Races.” Ed.
Roberta Rosenberg. New York: Twayne Publishers, a Division of
MacMillan Publishers.
1993. Latina Poetry. (For young Adults). “The Beauty of Me and My People”
and “Which Line is This? I Forget.” New York.
1993. Race, Class and Gender. “Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked
Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War Between
Races.” Ed. Paula Rothenberg. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
1993. Words that Wound. “Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me
How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War Between
Races.” Eds. Kimberle Crenshaw, et al. Westview Press.
1993. Poems: American Themes. “Starfish.” New York: Amsco School
Publications.
1993. Contemporary Multicultural Literature. “Refugee Ship.” Ed. Sheena
Eastman. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
1992. Hispanic Groups in the USA. “Refugee Ship.” Ed. Dr. Horst Tonn.
Berlin, W. GERMANY: Cornelsen Verlag.
1992. The Pittsburgh Book of Contemporary American Poetry. “Poem for the
Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person,
Could Believe in the War Between Races,” “Emplumada,” “Meeting Mescalito
at Oak Hill Cemetery,” “Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway” and “Poem for
the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person,
Could Believe in the War Between Races.” Eds. Ed Ochester & Peter Oresick.
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
1992. The Heath Guide to Literature, 3rd, edition. “Para un Revolucionario.”
Eds. David Bergman & Daniel Mark Epstein. Lexington, Mass. & Toronto:
D.C. Heath & Co.
1992. Racism and Sexism, 2nd. Edition. “Poem for the Young White Man Who
Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War
Between Races.” Ed. Paula Rothenberg. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
1992. Infinite Divisions: An Anthology of Chicana Literature. “Oaxaca, 1974,”
“Refugee Ship,” “Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway,” “Para un
Revolucionario,” “For Virginia Chavez,”“Crow,” “Visions of Mexico While at a
Writing Symposium in Port Townsend, Washington,” “Poem for the Young
White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could
Believe in the War Between Races,” “Declaration on a Day of Little
Inspiration,” “The Body as Braille,” “Como lo Siento” and “Emplumada.” Eds.
Tey Diana Rebolledo and Eliana Rivero. Phoenix: The University of Arizona
Press.
1992. The Before Columbus Foundation Poetry Anthology. “Meeting Mescalito
at Oak Hill Cemetery,” “Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway,” “For Edward
Long,” “For Virginia Chavez” and “Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked
Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War Between
Races.” Eds. Ishmael Reed, Shawn Wong, et al. NewYork/London: W.W.
Norton & Company.
1992. How We Live Now: Contemporary Multicultural Literature. “Refugee
Ship.” Ed. John Repp. New York: Bedford Books, a division of St. Martin’s
Press.
1991. Mixed Blessings: New American Art Crossing Cultures. “Visions of
Mexico While at a Writing Symposium in Port Townsend, Washington.” Ed.
Lucy. L. Lippard. New York: Pantheon Books, a Division of Random House.
1991. Western Wind. “Freeway 280.” Ed. John Frederick Nims. New York:
McGraw Hill.
1991. New American Poets of the ‘90’s, “Raisins,” “Colorado Blvd.” and “From
the Bus to E.L.” Eds. Jack Meyers & Roger Weingarten. New York: David R.
Godine Press.
1990. Interactions: A Thematic Reader. Two poems. Eds. Ann Moseley &
Jeanette Harris. Boston, et al: Houghton Mifflin.
1990. Haciendo Caras/Making Faces, Makings Soul: Creative and Critical
Perspectives by Feminists of Color. Three poems. Ed. Gloria Anzaldúa.
San Francisco: Aunt Lute.
1990. Working Classics: Poems on Industrial Life. “Cannery Town in August.”
Eds. Peter Oresick & Nicholas Coles. Urbana, Chicago: Univ. of Illinois Press.
1990. The American Reader. “Refugee Ship.” Ed. Diane Ravitch. New York:
Bantam.
1990. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. “Crow,” “Beneath the
Shadow of the Freeway” and “Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me
How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in the War Between
Races.” Eds. Paul Lauter, et al. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath & Company.
1990. Emerging Voices. One poem. EdS. Janet Madden-Simpson & Sara M.
Blake. Fort Worth, Texas: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc.
1990. Sotto il Quinto Sole. “Lots: I,” “Lots: II,” “Refugee Ship,” “Freeway 280,”
“For All You Know,” “The Body as Braille,” “Before You Go,” “An Interpretation
of Dinner by the Uninvited Guest” and “Emplumada.” Ed. and trans. Franca
Minuzzo Bacchiega. Florence, Italy: Passigli Edizioni.
1989. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 3rd ed., volume 2. New
York, London: W.W. Norton & Company.
1989. An Ear to the Ground: An Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry.
Ed. Marie Harris & Kathleen Agüero. Athens, Georgia, London: Univ. of
Georgia Press.
1989. Mexican American Literature. Ed. Charles Tatum. Orlando, et al: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich.
1989. New Worlds of Literature. Ed. Jerome Beaty & J. Paul Hunter. New York,
London: W.W. Norton.
1989. Adventures in Reading. Pegasus Edition. “Starfish.” Orlando, Fl, et al:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers.
1988. The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, 2nd ed. Ed. Richard Ellmann &
Robert O'Clair. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Co.
1988. Chicana Creativity and Criticism. “Bird Ave,” “Oda a las Gatas,” & “Astro-
No-Mia.” Eds. Helena Viramontes & Maria Herrera-Sobek. Houston, TX: Arte
Publico Press.
1988. Contexts for Writing with a Purpose. Ed. Brock Dethier. New York:
Houghton Mifflin.
1988. Understanding Chicano Literature. Columbia, S. C: Univ. of South
Carolina Press.
1988. Racism and Sexism: An Integrated Study. “Poem for the Young White
Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-read Person, Could Believe in
the War Between Races.” Ed. Paula Rothenberg. New York: St. Martin's
Press, Inc.
1987. Early Ripening: American Women Poets Now. Ed. Marge Piercy. New
York, London: Pandora Press.
1987. In Celebration of the Muse. Eds. Amber C. Sumrall & Patrice Vecchione.
Soquel, CA: M Press.
1987. Survey of American Poetry: Midcentury to 1980. Great Neck, NY : Roth
Publishing Inc.
1985. Contemporary Chicano Poetry II/Partial Autobiographies, Interviews With
Twenty Chicano Poets. Ed. Wolfgang Binder. Verlag Palm, Enke Erlangen,
WEST GERMANY.
1983. Twenty-one Broadsides: Poems and Prose from the 1982-83 Walker
Art Center Reading Series. “Lapiz Azul.” St. Paul, MINN: Printed by
Toothpaste Press for Bookslinger Editions.
1982. Women Poets of the World. Ed. Deidre Lashgari, et al. New York:
MacMillan Publishing.
1982. Fiesta in Aztlan: Anthology of Chicano Poetry. Ed. Toni Empringham.
Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press.
1982. Shaman Woman, Mainline Lady. “Meeting Mescalito at Oak Hill
Cemetery.” Ed. Cynthia Palmer & Michael Horowitz. New York: Quill.
1981. Canto Al Pueblo. Ed. Justo Alarcon, et al. Phoenix, AZ: Canto Al Pueblo.
1981. Ceremony of Brotherhood, 1680-1980. Eds. Rudolfo Anaya & Simon
Ortiz. Albuquerque, NM.
1980. Pushcart Prize, IV: Best of the Small Presses. New York: Pushcart
Press.
1980. The Third Woman. Ed. Dexter Fisher. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
1980. Flor y Canto IV andV. Ed. Festival Committee. Albuquerque, NM:
Pajarito Publications.
1979. Floricanto II: An Anthology of Chicano Literature. Albuqerque, Austin:
Pajarito Publications & the Center for Mexican American Studies, Univ. of
Texas.
1978. Canto Al Pueblo. Ed. Leonardo Carrillo, et al. San Antonio, TX: Penca
Books.
LITERARY MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS (Partial listing)
2004. Self-Interview. "Don't Call Me No Hispanic, Man! A Conversation with
Lorna Dee Cervantes." DIVIDE, Issue No. 2. University of Colorado, Boulder.
2004. "Seems Seeds." SQUARE ONE. Issue No. 2, Spring. University of
Colorado, Boulder.
2004. "For My Ancestors." DIVIDE, Issue No. 2. University of Colorado, Boulder.
1997. "On Childhood." The BLOOMSBURY REVIEW, Vol. 17/Issue 5. Denver, CO.
1997. “I Trust Only What I have Built With My Own Hands: An Interview With
Lorna Dee Cervantes." The BLOOMSBURY REVIEW, Vol. 17/Issue 5.
Denver, CO.
1995. “Liberty,” “Tierra Y Libertad,” “A Baldemar Gómez,” and “Homing” in
VISIONES (Vol. 1, Num. 1). Denver, CO. Fall, 1995.
1993. “Persona Ingrata,” “Santa Cruz,” “Politeness Takes her Turn,” “My
Dinner with Your Memory,” “On Speaking to the Dead,” “Death Song,”
“Colorado,” “On Touring her Home Town,” “Europa and Califia,” “Plenos
Poderos,” “Lapiz Azul,” “Y Volver,” & “The Last Meal” in BRUJALA/COMPASS
17. Fall, 1993.
1990. “The Levee: Letter to No One” and “Pleiades from the Cables of
Genocide” in FRONTEIRS. Vol. 11:1, ‘90. Pages 22-23.

The Progressive Many Mountains Moving
The Berkeley Poetry Review The Bloomsbury Review
Tonantzin The Americas Review
Frontiers Zzyzyva
Poetry Flash The Mid-American Review
Quarry West Poetry Now
Revista Chicano-Riqueña Tecolote Literario
Contact II Haight Ashbury Literary Journal
Shankpainter White Pine Journal
Seeds of Change Beyond Rice
Samisdat El Grito del Sol
De Colores La Opinion (Mexico)
Caracol Vortice
Latin American Literary Review El Heraldo.( Mexico, D.F.)
Mango Imagine
Nuestro Fuego de Aztlan

Work translated by others (partial listing)
“Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway” in Plural de Excélsior, Fall, 1992. Translated into Spanish by Ricardo Aguilar Melantzón & Sergio Elizondo.
“Barco de Refugiados” in Vous avez dit Chicano: anthologie thematique de poesie chicano. Ed. and Trans. Elyette Andouard-Labarthe. Bordeaux, FRANCE: Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme de’Aquitaine/CNRS-French National Center for Research, 1993.

“Lots: I,” “Lots: II,” “Refugee Ship,” “Freeway 280,” “For All You Know,” “The Body as Braille,” “Before You Go,” “An Interpretation of Dinner by the Uninvited Guest” and “Emplumada” in Sotto il Quinto Sole, ed. and trans. Franca Minuzzo Bacchiega. Florence, Italy: Passigli Edizioni, 1990.

Critical Writing on Lorna Dee Cervantes (partial listing)

BOOKS
2004. Long interview conducted by Beatrice Pesquera, UCSB Post-Doc Fellow
in Sociology forthcoming in book on Latina Professors.
2004. Long critical entry. "Lorna Dee Cervantes" in LATINO AND LATINA
WRITERS, Vol. 1. Amanda Nolacea Harris-Fonseca. Eds. Alan West-Duran,
Maria Herrera Sobek & Cesar A. Salgado. New York: Thomson Gale/Charles
Scribner's Sons.
2000. Barrio-Logos: Space and Place in Urban Chicano Literature and
Culture. Raúl Homero Villa. “Between Nationalism and Women’s
Standpoint: Lorna Dee Cervantes’s Freeway Poems.” Austin: University of
Texas Press.
1998. Other Sisterhoods: Literary Theory and U.S. Women of Color. Ed.
Sandra Kumamoto Stanley. “Rethinking Class from a Chicana Perspective:
Identity and Otherness in Chicana Literature and Theory.” Timothy Libretti.
Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
1997. Latino Cultural Citizenship: Claiming Identity, Space, and Rights. Eds.
William V. Flores & Rina Benmayor. “Cultural Citizenship, Inequality, and
Multiculturalism. Renato Rosaldo. Boston: Beacon Press.
1997. Race & Class on Campus: Conversations With Ricardo’s Daughter. Jay
M. Rochlin. “Encounters With Racism.” Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
1997. Women Singing in the Snow: A Cultural Analysis of Chicana Literature,
by Tey Diana Rebolledo. Tucson & London: University of Arizona Press.
1996. Where Something Catches: Work, Love, and Identity in Youth. Victoria I.
Muñoz. New York: State University of New York Press.
1995. June Jordan’s Poetry for the People, A Revolutionary Blue Print. Ed.
Lauren Muller. New York & London: Routledge.
1995. Translated Woman. Ruth Behar. Boston: Beacon Press.
1995. Power Poetics: Women and Literature, 1945 to the Present. Roberta
Rosenberg. New York: Twayne Publishers, A Division of MacMillan
Publishers.
1995. Movements in Chicano Poetry: Against Myths, Against Margins. Rafael
Pérez-Torres. Cambridge University Press.
1994. An Other Tongue: Nation and Ethnicity in the Linguistic Borderlands.
Ed. Al Arteaga. “Bilingualism and Dialogism: Another Reading of Lorna Dee
Cervantes’ Poetry” by Ada Savin. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Pages 215-23.
1992. U.S. Latino Literature. Mark Zimmerman. Chicago, IL: March/Abrazo
Press.
1991. Mujer y literature mexicana y chicana: Culturas en contacto, Vol. II.
Eds. Aralia Lopez-Gonzalez, Melia Malagamba and Urrutia-Elena “Tres
momentos del proceso de reconocimiento en la voz poetica de Lorna Dee
Cervantes” by Justo S. Alarcón. Mexico City & Tijuana: Colegio de Mexico;
Colegio de la Frontera Norte. Pages 281-85.
1988. Chicana Creativity and Criticism.: Charting New Frontiers in American
Literature. Eds. Helena Viramontes & Maria Herrera-Sobek. “Chicana
Literature from a Feminist Perspective” by Yvonne Yarbro-Bejerano. Houston,
TX: Arte Publico Press. Pages 139-145.
1988. Understanding Chicano Literature. Carl R. Shirley & Paula W. Shirley.
Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
1987. A Gift of Tongues: Critical Challenges in Contemporary American
Poetry. Eds. Marie Harris & Kathleen Aguero. “Notes Toward a New
Multicultural Criticism: Three Works by Women of Color” by John Crawford.
Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. Pages 155-95.
1987. A Literary History of the American West. “Contemporary Mexican-
American Literature, 1960-Present” by Raymund A. Paredes. FortWorth, TX:
Texas Christian University Press. Pages 1101-1118.
1986. Chicano Poetry: A Critical Introduction. Cordelia Candelaria. Westport,
CT & London: Greenwood Press.
1985. Contemporary Chicana Poetry. Marta Ester Sanchez. Berkeley, CA, et
al: University of California Press.
1985. Partial Autobiographies: Interviews with Twenty Chicano Poets.
Wolfgang Binder. Erlangen. WEST GERMANY: Verlag Palm & Enke. Pages
39-53.
1985. Women of Color: Perspectives on Feminism and Identity. Ed. Audrey
McCluskey. “What Kind of Lover Have You Made Me, Mother?: Towards a
Theory of Chicanas’ Feminism and Cultural Identity Through Poetry” by
Norma Alarcøon. Bloomington, IN: Women’s Studies Program, Indiana
University. Pages 80-110.
1984. The Chicano Struggle: Analyses of Past and Present Efforts. Eds.
Theresa Cordova and Juan R. Garcia. “Witches, Bitches and Midwives: The
Shaping of Poetic Consciousness in Chicana Literature” by Tey Diana
Rebolledo. Binghamton, NY: Bilingual Press/ Editorial Bilingue. Pages 16-78.
1984. Die Legitimation Der Alltagssprache in der Modernen Lyrik. Ed. Harald
Wentzlaff-Eggebert. “Die Lyrik de Chicanos seit den sechziger Jahren,” by
Wolfgang Binder. Erlangen: Universitatsbund Erlangen-Nurnberg; WEST
GERMANY. Pages 85-111.
1973. Audio Interview. Juan Bruce-Novoa Papers. Archive Manuscript
Control.

DISSERTATIONS & THESES ON LORNA DEE CERVANTES (partial listing)
1994. “Es la culpa de los Antepasados”: The Influence of Native Heritage on
Chicana poetry. Christian J. Rosenstock. MA thesis. Illinois State University.
1994. Retextualized Transculturations: The Emergence of La Malinche as
Figure in Chicana Literature. Deliah Anne Storm. PHD dissertation.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
1993. Tales from the Second City: Social Geographic Imagination in
Contemporary Urban California Chicana/o Literature and the Arts. Raul
Homero Villa. PHD dissertation. The University of California - Santa Cruz.
1993. Title unavailable. Tim Libretti. PHD dissertation. The University of
Michigan-Ann Arbor.
1991. The Politics of Language:: Feminist Theory and Contemporary Works by
Women of Color (Paule Marshall, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich,
Maxine Hong Kingston, Lorna Dee Cervantes, and Gloria Anzaldúa). Nancy
Jane Peterson. PHD dissertation. The University of Wisconsin - Madison.
1985. Contemporary Chicana Poetry. Marta Ester Sanchez. PHD dissertation.
The University of California - San Diego.

JOURNAL ARTICLES (about Lorna Dee Cervantes) (partial listing)
1993. “Divided Loyalties: Literal and Literary in the Poetry of Lorna Dee
Cervantes, Cathy Song and Rita Dove” by Patricia Wallace, in MELUS: The
Journal for The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the
United States. Vol. 18:3, Fall ‘93. Amherst, MA: (MELUS). Pages 3-19.
1987. “Challenge and Counter Challenge: Chicana Literary Motifs,” by Alvina
Quintana, in Against the Current. Vol. 2:2, March-April ‘87. Pages 25, 28-32.
1987. “La busqueda de la identidad en la literatura chicana/tres textos,” by
Justo S. Alarcón, in Confluencia: Revista Hispanica de Cultura y Literatura.
Vol. 3:1. Fall
1987. Title unavailable CONFUENCIA. Pages 137-143.
1987. “Chicana Literature from a Feminist Perspective,” by Yvonne Yarbro-
Bejerano, in The Americas Review. Vol. 15:3-4. Fall-Winter ‘87. Houston,
TX: Arte Publico Press. Pages 139-145.
1986. “Nombres, apellidos y lenguas: la disyuntiva antologica del poeta
hispano en los Estados Unidos,” by Frances R. Aparicio, in Bilingual Review.
Vol. 13:3, Sept.-Dec. ‘86. Pages 47-58.
1986. “In Verbal Murals: A Study of Chicana Herstory and Poetry,” by Linda
Billings, in Confluencia: Revista Hispanica de Cultura y Literatura. Vol. 2:1.
Fall.
1986. Title unavailable. CONFUENCIA. Pages 60-68.
1985. “Bernice Zamora and Lorna Dee Cervantes: Una estetica feminista,” by
Bruce-Novoa, in Revista Iberoamericana. Vol. 51:132-33, July-Dec. ‘85.
Pittsburgh, PA: (RI.) Pages 565-573.
1985. “A Meeting of Poets from East and West: Lorna Dee Cervantes, Gary
Soto, Tato Laviera,” by Edward F. Elias, in BILINGUAL REVIEW. Vol. 12:1-2,
Jan.-Aug., 1985. Pages 150-155.
1984. “Emplumada: Chicana Rites-of-Passage,” by Lynette Seator, in MELUS:
The Journal for The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the
United States. Vol. 11:2, Summer ‘84. Amherst, MA: (MELUS). Pages 23-38.
1984. “Interview with Lorna Dee Cervantes,” with Bernadette Monda, in The
Third Woman. Vol. 2:1, ‘84. Berkeley, CA: (TWo). Pages 103-07.
1984. “Soothing Restless Serpents: The Dreaded Creation and Other
Inspirations in Chicana Poetry,” by Tey Diana Rebolledo. The Third Woman.
Vol. 2:1, ‘84. Berkeley, CA. Pages 83-102.
1984. “The Concept of Cultural Identity in Chicana Poetry,” by Elizabeth
Odoñez in The Third Woman. Vol. 2:1, ‘84. Berkeley, CA: (TWo). Pages 75
-82.
1978. “Archetypes in Chicana Poetry,” by Bernice Zamora, in DE COLORES.
Vol. 4:3. Albuquerque, NM: (DE COLORES). Pages 43-52.

Work reviewed by others (partial listing - over 40 entries)
1993. Hurricane Alice: A Feminist Quarterly. Vol. 9:4, Summer ‘93. Page 11.
1992. Sípapu.(a newsletter for librarians), v.21, no.2; con. issue #42. Feb., 1992.
1992. “Power of the Press” by Richard Johnson in The Denver Post, March 23.
1992. Review of From the Cables of Genocide: Poems on Love and Hunger
by Agueda Pizarro Rayo in Review 45. New York, Fall, 1992.
1991. The Alternative Press.
1991. The Poetry Flash. San Francisco, 1991.
1990. Isthmus / The Culture. By Joel Gersmann. December 14, 1990.
1990. The American Poetry Review. “The Gospel According to Norton,” by
Clayton Eschelman, Sept./Oct., 1990.

LISTINGS AND ENTRIES (Partial listing)
2004. Latino and Latina Writers, Volume 1. Long critical entry. "Lorna Dee
Cervantes." Amanda Nolacea Harris-Fonseca. Eds. Alan West-Duran, Maria
Herrera Sobek & Cesar A. Salgado. New York: Thomson Gale/Charles
Scribner's Sons.
1996. Latinas! Women of Achievement. Eds. Diane Telgen & Jim Kamp.
Detroit, New York & Toronto: Visible Ink Press.
1980-2006. Directory of American Poets and Writers. Names and addresses of
contemporary poets and fiction writers whose work has been published in the
United States.
1980-81 edition to present. New York: Poets and Writers.
1995. Oxford Companion to Women’s Writing in the United States. Edited by
Cathy N. Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martin. New York: Oxford University
Press.
1994. Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. Edited by
Ian Hamilton. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1994. American Women Writers. A critical reference guide from colonial times
to the present. Volume 5: Supplement. Edited by Carol Hurd Green and
Mary Grimley Mason; entry by Yvonne Yarbro-Bejerano. New York:
Continium Publishing Company.
1994. Who’s Who Among Hispanic Americans. Third edition, 1994-1995.
Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Co.
1993. Hispanic-American Almanac. A reference work on Hispanics in the
United States. By Nicolas Kanellos. Detroit: Gale Research. Biography
contains portrait.
1993. Hispanic Writers: A Selection of Sketches From Contemporary Authors.
Ed. Bryan Ryan. Detroit, MI, New York, London: Gale Research.
1993. Notable Hispanic American Women. First Edition. Detroit: Gale
Research.
1992. Bloomsbury Guide to Women’s Literature. Ed. Claire Buck. New York:
Prentice Hall General Reference.
1992. Who’s Who Among Hispanic Americans. Second edition, 1992-1993.
Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company.
1991. Contemporary Authors. A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in
fiction, general non- fiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures,
television, and other fields. Vol. 131. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company.
1991. Swedish National Encyclopedia (Nationalencyklopedin). Biographical
entry by Kjell A. Johansson.
1991. Hispanic Writers (Contemporary Authors Series). A selection of
sketches from Contemporary Authors. Ed. Bryan Ryan. Detroit, Michigan:
Gale Research Company.
1991. Who’s Who Among Hispanic Americans. First edition, 1991-1992.
Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company.
1989. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 82: Chicano Writers. First Series.
Eds. Francisco A. Lomelí and Carl R. Shirley. Detroit, Michigan: Gale
Research Company.
1989. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Ed. Charles Egleston. Entry by
Roberta Fernandez. Columbia, South Carolina: Bruccoli Clark Layman, Inc.
1988. Mexican American Biographies. An historical dictionary, 1836-1987.
By Matt S. Meier. New York: Greenwood Press.
1982. Chicano Literature: A Reference Guide. Eds. Julio A. Martinez and
Francisco A. Lomelí. Westport, CT. & London: Greenwood Press.
1979. Chicano Scholars and Writers. A bio-bibliographical directory. Edited
and compiled by Julio Martinez. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.
1978. Chicano Perspectives in Literature: A Critical and Annotated
Bibliography. Eds. Francisco A. Lomelí & Donaldo W. Urioste. Albuquerque,
NM: Pajarito Press.

ELECTRONIC MEDIA (PARTIAL LISTING)
2006. 30 minute poetry reading simulcast. KPFT, Houston, TX. October 24.
“Nuestra Palabra.”
1995. Profiled as “Outstanding Latino” for “La Paloma,” an internationally
syndicated television program for Univision (Mexico), Houston, TX.
1995. Radio interview: “The State of Poetry & the NEA.” KUVO, Boulder, CO.
April 13.
1995. Poetry presentation for “Viva Houston,” KTRK - TV 13, Houston, TX. May
18.
1995. Radio interview for “Authors in Transit.” KMSU 89.7FM. Mankato, Minn.
Nov. 17.
1993. Palabra: Latino Writers. Produced by Rosemary Catacalos. San
Francisco Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives, SFSU. Video.
1993.. Poetry reading at the Naropa Institute, July 16. Video.
1992. “The Body as Braille” in New Letters Poem for the Day. Produced and
hosted by Rebekah Presson. Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City. Nationally
syndicated to U.S. radio stations.
1992. Lecture on Chicano/a literature. CSERA 4000/500, Chicano Studies
class, Feb. 27. CU Boulder & Denver University joint production. Video.
1992. Poetry reading at the Naropa Institute, July 11. Video.
1988. Birthwrite: Growing Up Hispanic (Eight Hispanic Writers). Produced by
Jesús Treviño & Luis Torrez. Phoenix, AZ: KAET. Nationally syndicated to
PBS Stations. Full-length documentary. Video.
1986. Poetry reading with Gary Soto, Sandra Cisneros, and Luis Omar Salinas.
The Library of Congress, Wash., D.C., April 6, 1986. Audio and video.
1976. Six Chicano Poets. Prod. Daniel Del Solar for KQED Television, San
Francisco. Video.
1985. Lorna Dee Cervantes & Karen Brodine Read from their Poetry.
American Poetry Archives, San Francisco State University. Video.

March 3, 2005 - Present. LORNADICE. Web-log (blog) (http://lornadice.blogspot.com). Over 1,000 postings of original poetry and prose along with news and repostings. Over 65,000 visitors since monitoring site on May 5, 2005. Website presently attracts over a hundred visitors a day.

Current Projects
Una poca de gracia/ Bit of Grace: New and Collected Love Poems. (250 pages) Verbal agreement with Arte Público Press.
Ganesh’s Tusk: Towards A Pedagogy of Poetics. Nonfiction book on teaching creative writing and the creative life. Under verbal contract. Wings Press: San Antonio, TX.
Book of criticism on Lorna Dee Cervantes. Ed., Elisa Gonzalez-Gibson. Under contract, Wings Press.

I also have 5 other collections of poetry I am readying for publication.

Besides poetry, I am currently working on a full-length screenplay: Pigmeat: The Life and Times of Memphis Minnie, a dramatic musical about the inventor of the electric guitar; and a novel, Perfect Partners.
I am also completing a children’s picture book in verse, Pato Loco Goes to the Zoo and Discovers Home, at the request of Cinco Puntos Press. Bilingual.

Literary Activity:
Since 1974 I have presented over 1,000 poetry readings, lectures, performances and panel presentations in the US and Mexico at such places as: The Library of Congress (twice), The National Museum of Women in the Arts (2005), The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MINN. (1982), The Performance Theater in New York (1981), The Center for Performing Arts in San Jose, CA. (1979), The Nuyorican Poets Cafe (6 times), The 92nd Street Y, and at major universities such as Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Stanford, Columbia, Vassar, Cornell, Mt. Holyoke College, Wellesley College, Bradley College, Purdue College and at all of the campuses of the University of California. My work has been translated into German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Czechoslavakian. I’ve been included in books, anthologies & journals published in England, Spain, W. Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Ireland, Colombia , Czechoslavakia and Canada. I have been the subject of eight dissertations and six masters theses.

Languages
Spanish: moderately fluent speaking, fluent reading, passable writing.
Mayan and Yucatec Mayan: rudimentary reading and writing.

Tribal Affiliation: Chumash

ADDENDUM (partial listing of activities)

2004 Presentations, Talks, Workshops, Colloquia
Poetry Workshop for educators. “Writing the World by Heart,” In-Service Teachers Training
workshop, Gemini Ink Summer Literary Festival. San Antonio, TX.
Poetry Workshop. “Poetry, A Writers Way of Knowledge.” Gemini Ink Summer Literary Festival.
San Antonio, TX.
Paper on the poetry of Chicana poet, Bernice Zamora presented on a panel with Dr. Luis Torres,
Pueblo State College, Colorado. Oct. 22
Poetry Reading. Regis College, Denver. May 5th.
Poetry Reading. Summer Literary Conference. Gemini Ink. San Antonio, Texas. July 23.
Wrote paper, "Chuck Class and Poetry" for keynote address for the IV International Conference on
Chicano Literature, University of Seville, SPAIN. Cancelled due to illness.
Wrote paper for keynote address for Conference on Chicano Literature for teachers, GERMANY,
Nov. 18-22. Cancelled due to illness.

1996 Presentations, Talks, Workshops, Colloquia
Poetry Workshop. Orate High School. The Border Book Festival. Las Cruces, New Mexico.Jan. 24.
Poetry Workshop. Las Cruces High School. The Border Book Festival. Las Cruces, NM. Jan. 24.
Poetry Workshop. Garfield Community Center. The Border Book Festival. Garfield, NM. Jan. 25.
Poetry Reading. Creative Writing Program. CU Boulder. Feb. 15.
Poetry Reading. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. Feb. 20.
Keynote Address. Colorado Language Arts Society Spring Regional Conference.
Broadmoor Hotel. Colorado Spring. March 9.
Poetry Reading. The Border Book Festival. Las Cruces, New Mexico. March 22.
Poetry Reading and Workshop. La Xicana Conference. Metro State College, Denver. March 29.
Poetry Reading. University of Illinois at Chicago. April 10.
Poetry Workshop. Resistance Bookshop. Austin, Texas. April 18.
Poetry Reading. "Floricanto." Austin Community College. April 20.
Poetry Reading. "Floricanto Colorado-Año 2." CU Boulder. April 26.
Poetry Workshops. Summer Writing Program. Jack Keroac School of Disembodied Poetics.
Naropa Institute. Boulder. June 16-20.
Poetry Reading. Summer Writing Program. Jack Keroac School of Disembodied Poetics. Naropa
Institute. Boulder. June 19.
Poetry Symposia. Summer Writing Program. Jack Keroac School of Disembodied Poetics. Naropa
Institute. Boulder. June 21.
Poetry Reading. "Hijas del Quinta Sol: Studies in Latina Identity and Literature" Conference.
Saint Mary's University. San Antonio, Texas. July 11.
Panel Presentation. Publishing Panel. "Hijas del Quinta Sol: Studies in Latina Identity &
Literature" Conference. Saint Mary's University. San Antonio, Texas. July 12.
Poetry Reading. "Celebration of Latino Literature." Community College of Denver. Sept. 15.
Poetry Reading. "Mexican and Chicano Poets: Literature Without Borders Conference." Mexico
City. Nov. 7.
Poetry Reading. Addressed at-risk youth. Mile High Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Denver.
Nov. 20.

1995 Presentations, Talks, Workshops, Colloquia
Conducted Latina Poetry Workshops, one day a week, Spring semester, Univ. of Houston
(while on Leave).
Paper on Chicana Writers presented at the International Hispanic Association for the Humanities
Conference in Madrid, Spain, July 29.
Poetry Reading. Houston High School, La Raza Student Alliance. Houston, Tx., Jan. 21.
Poetry Reading & talk: “Chicana Poetry : Y Qué?” . Women’s Studies Program, Anderson
Library, University of Houston, Jan. 27, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Poets & Writers Ball, Benefit for Creative Writing Program, U. of H. Houston
Country Club, March 10, 1995.
Panelist on “Latina Art.” Firehouse Gallery, Houston, Tx., March 14, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Univ. of Houston, Central Campus, April 4, 1995
Poetry Reading and Panelist: “Restructuring the Family: The Poetry of Lorna Dee Cervantes.”
(“Lorna Debunks Lear’s ‘The Owl and the Pussy-cat’”, Juanita Luna Lawhn, San Antonio
College and “Cervantes’ Journey: From Solitude to Solace,” Bruce-Novoa, Univ. of California,
Irvine.) Multicultural Voices in Literature Conference: Constructing the Family, San Antonio
College, April 21, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Multicultural Voices in Literature Conference: Constructing the Family, San
Antonio College, April 21, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Creating Women’s Voices: Performances by Six Writers. Univ. of Texas at
Austin, April 22, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Council of Ethnic Organizations Awards Banquet, Univ. of Houston. Holiday
Inn Crowne Plaza, May 6, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Regan High School. Houston, Tx., May 10, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Kirsten Starkey's Intro. to Creative Writing Class,CU Boulder, June 5, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Arts of the Contact Zone. U. of Arizona, Modern Languages Auditorium.
Tucson, June 21, 1995.
Poetry Workshop for high school students entering U. of Arizona, Tucson, June 22, 1995.
Poetry Reading. International Hispanic Association for the Humanities Conference in Madrid,
Spain, July 29, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Voices of the West Fall Reading Series. Koenig Center, CU Boulder, Sept. 25.
Poetry Reading. San Antonio Inter-American Bookfair and Literary Festival. San Antonio, Tx.,
Oct. 12, 1995.
Poetry Reading. U. S. C. Latino Writers and Speakers Series. Univ. of Southern Colorado at
Pueblo, Oct. 20, 1995.
Poetry Reading. San Francisco Book Festival, S.F., CA, Nov. 5, 1995.
Poetry Reading. UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA., Nov. 7, 1995.
Poetry Reading. Rolling Thunder Reading Series. Mankato State University, MIN.,Nov. 16, 1995.
Craft lecture. Mankato State University, MIN., Nov. 16, 1995.
Guest lecture on Chicano Poetry for Multicultural Literature class. Mankato State University,
Minn., Nov. 16, 1995.

1994 Presentations, Talks, Workshops, Colloquia
Talk. “Chicano Art.” Denver Public Theatre. May 15.
Poetry Workshop. Naropa Institute. Boulder. July 11 & 14.
Colloquim. Naropa Institute. Boulder. July 16.
Talk. “Poetry: A Writer’s Way of Knowledge.” ArtSpeak. Wyoming Arts Council. Jackson,
Wyoming. Oct. 1.
Panelist. “The Women Your Mother Warned you About: Cultural Diversity in Feminism.”
University of Houston. Nov. 14.
Lecture. “Chicana/Latina Empowerment.” Galveston, TX. Nov. 19.

1994 Poetry Readings
May 7. Fort Lupton, Co. Tumblewrods.
May 5. Cinco de Mayo Celebration. Boulder.
May 20. Cultural Legacy Bookstore. Denver.
July 11. Naropa Institute. Boulder.
Sept. 14. Diverse Works. Houston, TX.
Sept. 23. University of Houston.
Nov. 2. “National Writers Harvest for the Homeless.” Menil Museum. Houston, TX.
Nov. 8. “In Other Words: Writings by Chicana Authors.” Univ. of Houston.
Dec. 2. Hispanic Literature Recovery Conference. Univ. of Houston.

1993 Presentations, Talks, Workshops, Colloquia
April 4. Colorado State University, Fort Collins. “Chicana Poetry.” Talk.
April 24. Keynote address. MECHA. Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
July 13 & 16. Poetry Workshop. Naropa Institute. Boulder.
July 15. Lecture. “Ecopoetics.” Naropa Institute. Boulder.
July 17. Colloquium. Naropa Institute. Boulder.

1993 Poetry Readings
Jan. 16. Patterson Community Poetry Center. Patterson, NJ.
Feb. 23. Arts and Sciences Centennial Reading. CU, Boulder.
March 6. Arts and Humanities Association of Boulder.
April 4. Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
April 26. Cinco de Mayo Celebration. Denver University, Denver.
April 28. Semana Chicana. UMAS. CU,Boulder.
May 3. Cinco de Mayo Celebration, CU Boulder.
May 11. University of Northern Colorado, Greeley.
May 22. Poesis Benefit. Denver.
July 10. Naropa Institute.
July 30. Boulder Bookstore.
Oct. 12. Michigan State University, Ann Arbor.
Nov. 3. MECHA. CU, Boulder.
Nov. 13. Michigan State University., Ann Arbor.

1992 Presentations, Talks, Workshops, Colloquia
Feb. 22. “Poetry Workshop.” Reed Arts Festival. Reed College, Portland, Oregon.
Feb. 27. “Chicano Poetry,” lecture for Prof. Salvador Rodriguez del Pino’s Chicano Studies
4000/5000 class. CU Boulder.
April 17. “Sudden Exposure: Home Girls, Vatas and Cruzadas in the Academy”. Panel for
Semana de la Chicana, United Mexican American Students (UMAS). CU Boulder.
April 24. “Chicano Poetry,” lecture/reading for MECHA/UMAS, La Semana de la Chicana
July 11. Naropa Institute. Summer session Faculty Colloquium. (Summer Faculty).
Nov. 23. “Chicana/o Poetry,” lecture for Olivia Arrieta’s Intro. to Chicano Studies course.

1992 Poetry Readings
Feb. 10. Tattered Cover Bookstore, Denver.
Feb. 14. Creative Writing Program Reading Series (with Jay Griswold), CU Boulder.
Feb. 22. Reed Arts Festival. Reed College, Portland, Oregon.
April 12. Boulder Presents Writers! Arts & Humanities Assoc. of Boulder.
April 13. Semana de la Chicana, (UMAS), CU Boulder.
May 1. Cinco de Mayo, (UMAS/MECHA), CU Boulder.
May 1. Penny Lane Coffeehouse, Boulder.
May 6. Metropolitan State College-Auraria Campus. Cinco de Mayo. Denver.
July 9. Tattered Cover Bookstore. Colorado Council on the Arts Literary Fellowship Recipients
Reading, Denver.
July 11. Naropa Institute, Boulder. (Summer Faculty).
Nov. 13. Chicano Humanities and Arts Center (CHAC), Denver.

1991 Presentations, Talks, Workshops, Colloquia
Talk: “Chicano Poetry.” Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Lory Student Center. March 21.
Craft Lecture: “Poetry: A Writer’s Way of Knowledge”. Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
March 21.
Craft Lecture. Tucson Poetry Center. University of Arizona, Tucson. March 26.
Craft Lecture. University of Arizona, Flagstaff. March 29.
Guest Lecture. San José State University. Multicultural Literature class. “Chicano Poetry: ¿Y
Qué?”. May 8.
Performance. Yerba Buena High School, San José, CA. Senior poetry seminar (& recruitment).
May 9.
Chicano/Latino Graduation address. University of California, Santa Cruz. June 15.
Chicano Art Show panel presentation: “El Arte se Salva.” Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA.
July 20.
Panel. Naropa Institute. Summer session Faculty Colloquium. July 30.
Poetry Reading. Foothill Writers Conference at Foothill College, Los Altos, California.
Poetry Workshops. June 24-26. Foothill Writers Conference at Foothill College, Los Altos, CA.
Workshops: “Getting Poems Published,” “Reading Your Work Aloud,” “The Line,” individual
manuscript critiques.
Guest Poet. University of California, Berkeley. Robert Hass’ Modern Poetry class. October 15.
Panel presentation: “Muticultural Poetry of the West”. Casper, Wyoming Annual Writer’s
Conference: “Western Landscapes.” Casper College. October 31.

1991 Poetry Readings
Naropa Institute, Boulder. February 13.
University of Colorado, Boulder. Arts & Humanities Assoc. of Boulder. February 23.
Alphagraphics Gallery. Denver. RED DIRT reading with Jay Griswold, et al. Mar. 13.
University of Colorado, Boulder. Women Against War. March 17.
Colorado State University, Fort Collins. March 22.
University of Arizona, Tempe. March 25.
University of Arizona, Tucson. March 27.
University of Arizona, Flagstaff. March 28.
Teikyo-Loretto Heights. Denver. (With Jay Griswold.) April 12.
University of Colorado, Boulder. UMAS. April 19.
University of Colorado, Boulder. Koenig Alumni Ctr. RED DIRT reading with Jay Griswold, et
al. April 24.
University of Colorado, Boulder. Old Main. Cinco de Mayo. May 2.
San José State University. May 8.
Yerba Buena High School, San José, CA. Reading/Recruitment performance. May 9
University of California, Santa Cruz. Chicano/Latino Graduation. June 15.
Foothill College, Los Altos, California. June 25.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. August 2.
University of Colorado, Boulder. UMAS. September 16.
C. U., Boulder. Prof. Linda Hogan’s Modern Poetry grad. sem, Sept. 26.
University of California, Berkeley. October 15.
Casper, Wyoming’s Annual Writer’s Conference. Casper College. November 1.
University of Colorado, Boulder. Prof. Salvador Rodríguez Del Pino’s
Chicano Studies class. Guest lecture: “Chicana Poetry.” November 19.

1990 Papers, Presentations, Talks, Workshops, Colloquia
Vision of Color Ethnic Women Writers Conference. University of Washington at Pullman.
Symposium: “What We Are Trying to Say: Four Writers Discuss Their Work, Roots and ‘What
It Is’.” March 1, 1990.
In-class instruction, graduate Bilingual Education seminar: “Poetry and Chicano Education.”
University of WA., Pullman. March 2, 1990.
Poetry workshop with Paula Gunn Allen. Univ. of WA., Pullman. March 3, 1990.
Associated Writing Programs Annual Conference in Denver. Panel: “Chicano Literature: Moving
into the ‘90’s.” March 24, 1990.
In-class lecture, Dr. Herminio Rios’ Chicano Literature course,
University of California at Hayward: “Chicano Literature.” May 24.
Foothill Writers Conference at Foothill College, Los Altos, California.
Poetry Workshops. June 24-26.
Foothill Writers Conference at Foothill College, Los Altos, CA. Talk: “Ethnicity and the Woman
Poet.” June 24.
Foothill Writers Conference. Workshop: “Reading Your Work Aloud.” June 26.
* Naropa Institute, Boulder. Faculty lecture: “Chicana Poets. ¿Y
qúe?” July 12.
Naropa Institute. Creative Writing Faculty Colloquium. July 14.
Summer Writers in Residence at The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center - Literature Program in San
Antonio, Texas. Residency in Poetry. August 13-18. Poetry course, Aug. 13-17.
University of Colorado, Boulder. Jenny Dorn’s graduate Publishing seminar. Guest lecture “On
Small Press in America.” October 10.
University of Colorado, Boulder. Prof. Salvador Rodríguez Del Pino’s Chicano Studies 1015.
Guest lecture: “Chicano Poetry.” October 23.

Poetry Readings-1990
Univ. of WA., Pullman. March 3, 1990.
Colorado Poetry Rodeo & Free Speech Jamboree. Muddy’s, Denver, May 5.
University of California at Hayward. May 25.
University of California, Santa Cruz. June 1.
Alphagraphics Gallery. Denver. June 13.
Foothill College, Los Altos, California. June 25.
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Theatre. San Antonio, Texas. August 18.
Univ. of CO, Boulder. Sewall Hall. October 3.

Auto - Bio: The Long Short Of It (1954 - 74)

2006-01-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

(to be continued. This is in response to the recent letter I received from a student is who doing a "report" on me and wanted me to "Tell [me] something about your life." My life requires making soup before typing the rest of this 15+ page "Auto - Bio". Cheers! If you're in Denver, catch me this friday at Cafe Cultura where I'll be the feature and you can feature your own voice on the open mike. For details, go to my home blog - but you must be 18 years old to visit. Or, visit the cool poets at Cafe Cultura.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lorna "Doone" Cervantes was born in the Mission District in San Francisco in 1954. In the fall of 1959 her parents divorced and her mother, who had named her after a Scottish novel, moved her and older brother, the musician, Stephen Cervantes, to her grandmother's house in downtown San José's Gardner neighborhood near the corner of San Carlos and Bird Ave. She would describe her early upbringing as "welfare class" and "like living a dime-store novel."

Lorna Dee Cervantes wrote her first poem in the bath tub to the tune of "Green Sleeves" about Christmas in July: "The world, world/ is bitter and cold/ but inside they're warm, not cold/ they saw the baby Jesus." She is often quoted as saying that she can not remember a time when poetry wasn't at the center of her life.

In high school, Lorna Dee was active in the drama club and had several leading and character roles. She was a member of the "Cosmopolites" club which took regular trips to San Francisco's cultural venues: art museums, opera, concerts, plays. She saw the opening night of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and later, returned six more times that week. She was once lost for hours in front of a fine-line drawing hatched by a "mental patient" at the Palace of Fine Arts. She was the youngest (unofficial) member of N.O.W. and attended meetings at San Jose State regularly as well as traveled throughout the state with a debate team made up of women from the local chapter. She was awarded several Quill & Scroll Awards for Feature Writing, as Feature Editor and for a weekly column she co-wrote entitled "The Iconoclast." She was interested in politics, philosophy and the early ecology movement and, besides the "Women's Liberation Movement", she was active in the Farm Workers Movement, the Chicano Moratorium, the anti-war effort, the American Indian Movement and the anti-nuclear peace movement from the age of 15. Interests which never failed to ground her for the rest of her life. At age 16 she was a regular member of the San Jose and Stanford poetry community. She attended poetry readings and workshops where she first heard the poetry of Diana Di Prima (Loba), Elías Hruska-Cortez, Victor Hernandez Cruz (Snaps), Sonia Sanchez, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Anne Waldman. She studied Abnormal Psychology, Anatomy and Physiology and expected to found a school for "Disturbed Children" when she grew up. She volunteered all during high school for several "Special Schools" and institutions for "Severely Retarded" and "Severely Handicapped" children.

Her father was the noted "Visionary" artist, Luis Cervantes who opened a fine arts gallery in the Mission that year which successfully featured the work of early abstract, avant and conceptual artists. In the mid-60's he met the Texas muralist and fellow "Visionary" artist, Susan Kelk, at the San Francisco Art Institute. An early member of the Muralistas Mujeres, together Susan and Luis founded the Precita Eyes Muralists in 1973 while both volunteered at the Mission Arts Center.

That year, after Lorna Dee graduated in 1972, instead of applying to Yale, her first choice, she followed the advice of her vocational counselor and enrolled in San Jose Community College, formerly San Jose City College. She was active in a volunteer cross-cultural tutorial agency where she held a work-study position for several years, Operation: SHARE where among other duties, she edited its newsletter; she was an active member of a Chicano cultural group, Somos Raza, and edited the college literary magazine where several of her early poems first appeared. She graduated with high honors with an AS in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Comparative Literature. That year, 1973, she begins a relationship with a man she later marries.

In the summer of 1974, Lorna Dee travels for the first time to Mexico with a college Chicano Teatro group under the direction of Adrian Vargas, founder of El Teatro de la Gente de San Jose. The IV International TENAZ Festival in Mexico City, Tenochtilan, Vera Cruz and Calexico would be a life-changing experience on many levels for Lorna Dee. Already active as a poet, having presented her poetry at San Jose State and on radio while a 16 year old high school student, was asked to present her poems between the group's two one-act plays. Her group, Teatro Conciente, presented with Luis Valdez's Teatro Campesino to two sold-out shows in Mexico City, DF.

On "Mammatus" - The Me And Not-Me of Poetry

2006-01-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

Don't believe everything you read and everything I write is not about me. There is the "Me and Not-Me" of Poetry to consider. That capitalization is specific, as Poetry, The Muse to me, always seems to have a mind of her own. I am not in control. Whatever control I do possess as a writer of the written and spoken word is an illusion.

But as my granma always said, "Where there's a will there's a way."

I've been engaging in more exercises in my old age. (that's a joke!) That is, I've been forcing myself to write for the occasion, whatever it is, and in bursts of zen magic -- and years of practice. As the great cellist, Pablo Casals once said, "When I miss three days of practice my audience notices, when I miss two days of practice my teacher notices, and when I miss one day of practice I notice." Or something like that. For me, I have to put the Play back into the playing. Like any heart relationship I have to keep renewing the vows, blowing on the spark, inserting my key into the ignition and letting out the clutch.

How many ways are there to love?

That's how many ways there are to write it.

I was struck by the clouds. I am a lifelong cloud watcher, guilty now because I no longer watch every sunset as I did in my youth. That's the kind of love, not exactly the word "dedication", that you need in order to write Poetry. You see the one you love because you have to, because nothing else fits in the landscape of Now as much as the Beloved: whatever, whomever that may be. You listen because you love. You don't just notice, you See a face, un rostro.

I begin with what I See first: those entrails of the universe so plainly in view. Then I ask: Is there some new way to say/ See this? What is it? Rope. Twisted strands of light and dark wool, the knitting stuff of the sky. Then I brainstorm for some way to open, some voice that starts talking back to me. I do what I often suggest in workshop, a way to, what I call, "kick out the scaffolding" by collapsing the language so that it doesn't take me three whole (precious) lines to compare a leaf stalk to to the veins in my hand, for example (and as Robert Bly said in a little book every poet should have, if you can find it, Leaping Poetry. "Gut - Rope" which sounds weird so it becomes a strange new verb instead "gut-roped." This sky, so rare and intimate, seems to ask for a rare and intimate voice, so it becomes a declarative:

MAMMATUS

Gut roped in the sky

Now, I've made a commitment. A choice. Poetry is all about choice and is the dance with infinite choice. This poem, an occasional poem, was written on the occasion of a challenge to write about these clouds, this picture.

And, to do it soon. Right now. Walk this path, here. So it requires another step. And when in doubt go with love. Why not? So I do:

you and I, an anomaly

Back to the light and dark strands which sounds like "strains" to the Muse. And I already know this, that this sky is an anomaly; I was told this from the challenge, I read it as the caption to the photo: a rare occurrence. "Go with what you know" may be another way to take another step in a poem:

a rarer occurrence. (...)

Now I research. "Know the names of things" as my poetry teacher, my "Guru", Robert Hass used to say. I click the links to mammatus clouds and read up on them. I go back to strands, not wanting to loose the hint of wool (as opposed to the slaughter of the lamb) in this poem -- I want somebody to see the same wool yarn as some potential in the poem/ sky as they see the bloody entrails, too. And sometimes, you can't just come out and state it, you have to, as Machado after Socrates said: you have to build the road as you traverse the terrain. Another thing my "poetry guru" said much later in his career was that he always made sure he had "at least one and a half poetic ideas per line" and I try to do it in a way I think is the most basic in Poetry: in a way that is interesting, at least to me:

(...) You kick
the wind up to wind the threads.

I'm thinking of a spinning wheel, the kind with a pedal (treadle?) you kick to cause it to spin while you hold and ever so lightly pull the long train of yarn flowing from its spindle; also, at the same time, thinking of a baby's kick inside the mother as these clouds also look exactly like ropes of umbilical cords -- and this also becomes a poem with a gender, at least in my mind at this point: it's a poem from a woman's point of view, with a woman's entrails, there, laid bare in the sky for all to see; that intimacy. Now it begins to take a subject/ matter:

Your light, a burgeoning there

That distinction of you has a gender: male, an intimate male. Even the word choice: burgeoning (I had to look this up in my old tattered copy of Websters Dictionary after I chose it, the same dictionary I've been using to write Poetry since I was 11 years old; my Muse knows words that I don't and I've learned to trust her) suggests something swelling and male to me -- as well as that will to take over (sometimes) and it's this last parenthetical that concerns me now in this poem about a cloud. How to make it specific in order to get at those "minute particulars" of William Blake's notice? I think of my troubled best friend, the talk we had the night before, the many same talks we've been having in the past handfull of years she has been with a man who is abusive in a way that is scary. My love, my concern, my worry for her -- and my need to understand her choices, her choice. So now I have a subject:

among the dark filters.

What I don't know. What I cannot know. This is the stuff of poetry, the weave of light and dark, the known, the intimate and the unknown, the ineffable, the unknowable, that which resists knowing. This is interesting. It becomes interesting to me. Now I need to look closer, into and through those "minute particulars" -- what else can I See in this image? Clay squeezed through a fist (the known) and the unknown unknowable, how we (sometimes) make our own private hell:

Twisted fist of my making,

Now I have made another choice, to forge the intimacy I see in this picture of sky, this exact moment captured in digital detail, I have to make it from my sight, my experience, even though it is so outside of my life's experience: I take on the poetic persona, the Me and Not-Me of Poetry -- and I go with what I know, now a specific man; he has a name I will never tell you:

you, some squeezing finger,
a trigger of hair sensitive
to what is not there. (...)

Ezra Pound once wrote in the ABCs of Reading that Poetry has three ways to charge language:

phanopoeia: the presentation of experience via imagery, by taking one image then laying another on top of it so that the layering alters or extends the first

melopoeia: the presentation of experience via sound-sense

logopoeia: the presentation of experience via taking a given set of words and laying another given set of words on top of it so that it alters or extends the meaning, and, most interestingly, subverts the original meaning or otherwise startles the reader into a new way of conceiving ideas: the presentation of experience via the construction of concepts

I find this an enormously helpful way to consider one's work, particularly at the time one is writing -- and, infinitely liberating. I like this idea because it is what I had already come to as a poet and so it made perfect sense to me. And not the creation of poetic texts based upon "schools of poetry" or thought or a particular style (culture) or concern (history). Poetry, I believe often plays among all three of these ways of doing. Sometimes.

So, here, I reread what I've written. I have phanopoeia: the poem begins, comes out of the imagery. I have begun a logopoetic process, I have a subject-matter (mater) and a given set of words: "light and dark" with its various connotations as well as stereotypes (mater to subvert) and suggestions from the actual phenomena of areas of cold and hot, much as this particular man and relationship has been described. Now, I want to pluck some strings of sound: I let the sound-sense lead me to where I might want to go, the melopoeia of it, in order to create another layer of knowing. And, rhyme being easiest, I go for my "at least one and a half poetic ideas per line":

to what is not there. Where

and back to phanopoeia, like crocheting or knitting where in order to hold it all together you have to remember to catch a thread every once in a while, I refer back to the squeezed clay image and the specifics: a man choking his loved one:

are your hands in this gripping
of the neck? (...)

and repeat for melopoeia"

(...) Where (...)

Where? Where what? More brainstorming, all silent in my head rather than the page. I go with what I know: that abusive men and this man has been described as being "very charming":

(...) your charm?

Now I've got fairy tales coming into the poem. It's like chess, you have to anticipate the moves of your opponent and in this infinite spacetime of Poetry I always choose to spin as many connotations of the same word in the same poem as possible because that's what "real life" feels like to me, especially contrary (ironic) contradictory ones.

Your cauldron? Ominous in appearance,

Haha! I've just turned her boyfriend into the Wicked Witch of the West! I like this. It keeps me interested in the poem. Now more specifics to earn that pleasure:

your frown, the tornado
of your furrowed brow. (...)

Back to what I know. (logopoeia) Specifically, the tip-toeing around an angry unpredictable person one has to do in order to even begin to love him or her. I try to keep my judgment out of the poem in honor of the unknowable. "Just state the facts, mam (how do you spell that?) Here's where I have to open my own purse and see what's inside. Do I know what that's like? Unfortunately, I know. Briefly but not less traumatically. A man I once wrote some lines for in a long poem about this very subject. The main image was of the physics (thermodynamics?) of a tornado which I wrote while waiting for one to hit late one night. I finished the poem over a series of nights and the poem spanned several near-relationships at varying stages, exploring this same subject matter but more from the point of view of "How is it even possible?" And thinking, that like the science that declares a Tornado Watch, it's all voodoo anyway -- no one knows. He might hit. he might not. It might whip into a category 5 hurricane or it might whimper out into nothing more than a watering rain:

(...) I wait

and then back to phanopoeia, the primary image, tying it back to the logopoetic: the aftermath of a violent act:

for your aftermath
like an afterbirth, a thick subsiding.

Real blood clotting. Real acts that can never be revoked, just rationalized, explained in a way that is always false in light of the actual act; i.e., more science, con-science:

The sinking air, whisper of crystal—
pouchlike love, a yearning back down
to the earth. (...)

I needed to get the word "pouch" in the poem, somewhere. The classically descriptive term for this kind of sky, and phenomena, the catching of freezing air by the warm "pouches" of current; as well as back to the specifics of this kind of co-dependency:

(...) I hold you here, suspended
in rain, (...)

Now, it seems important to me to attempt to describe this rain, what kind of rain? Back to minute particulars. When in doubt, go with elements and our way of perceiving them: my brainstorming at this point covers the senses until I hit on what that rain might sound like: descending voices (advice falling on deaf ears?)

(...) the descending choir, (...)

And I also want to get in the word "anvil" as this is also the characteristic form of this massive formation:

(...) the anvil (...)

Anvil what? I don't want to just leave it hanging (pun intended) I want to extend the connotations -- also, "anvil" next to "choir" sounds like/ looks like "angel" to me: the light and dark, the angel face/ the devil. I like this, keeps me interested. Now I want to keep the melopoeia going as well as go back to my original impetus for the subject matter: "strands" and "strains" like how I imagne it is to live for many years in a relationship that's constantly straining the strands. I'm delighted to find such an appropriate rhyme for rain:

(...) strain.

(...) And, I am lost to you

I like how this all goes on one line, like an abusive lover's excuses as they all come tumbling out at once:

in rain, the descending choir, the anvil

I like it because "anvil" suggests to me the thing that always ends up falling back down on Wiley Coyote's head, like rain, in the cartoon with the Roadrunner. Now I want something serious to counter this light, but intended, flash of image. I also want something appropriately abrupt, abrupt in the way I want my friend to end her relationship, and the line to be like the truth that is revealed in the revealing of this intimate relationship:

strain. And, I am lost to you

Back to the facts. Science. Seeking that reason to Seeing that is the pot of treasure at the poem's end -- as I am sensing that I am getting to the end truth of the poem:

on the underside, still holding

As I am nearing my end, some finish line coming into view on the horizon, I make sure I have included my original list of "what does this look like?", searching my purse for correspondences and options. The poem makes me sad: I want things to work out for my friend. She wants to nest with this man. I want to make sure, now, at the end of the poem, that my logopoeia is complete, that I have caught another thread in the telling weave -- I decide to use an abstract word, that is, a word for a condition and a chancy, sentimental word: passion. I am struck by my friend's passion, a passion, I feel, towards self-destruction:

this woven nest of warm passion

Another thing I always advise in workshop: Beginnings and endings are crucial. Like tying off the woven Navajo rug, that making sure against unraveling. Sometimes.

and hanging.

He leaves her hanging. She ought to leave him.

Like this sky, harmless: but a rare occurrence. This fizzling out of the tornado when all of the conditions are there for destruction.

So, all this to say: No! This is not a poem about me or my love life, or my loved one. It's a poem written entirely outside of my experience, which, like life, is an illusion anyway -- the illusion that we are ever apart in the first place.

To begin to See how all is us and we are a part of all is the first step to Poetry, becoming aware of and learning how to shape the Me and Not-Me of Poetry, that act of catching our becoming in the moment we beheld and became.

"Mammatus" (poem)

2005-12-29T10:07:00.000-08:00

MAMMATUS

* UPDATE: Watch this space for link to poem in upcoming issue of MI POESIAS magazine focusing on women's work. It will include a podcast of me reading the poem. (soon as my voice clears up from this lingering flu) Check out link on my homw blog to current issue and MI PO' Radio. THANKS, DIDI!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by Lorna Dee Cervantes
12/23/05

(written for and posted on Michael Parker's Journal)

What Was I doing. . .

2005-12-14T01:21:00.000-08:00

"What Was I Doing. . .?"

30 Years Ago?

20 Years Ago?

10 Years Ago?

5 Years Ago, 1 Year Ago, Yesterday?

Lorna Dee Cervantes Says Welcome Home! Bien Venidos!

2005-12-02T01:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Lorna Dice! Excuse our dust while we reconstruct. It can be exhausting. What, with all the deconstruction going on -- and, yeah, that's me with a hammer in my hand wearing a hard-hat.

That's the latest news, my "Deconstruct Your Own Darn Book Project." (Just kidding.) (sort of) Actually I think of it as critical reconstruction. Whatever it is I like it, and it's a whole new work(s), a brand new book of poetry entitled ESKELETONADA.

This blog site is for critical scholarship and general interest in the poetry and other writings of Chicana poet and professor, Lorna Dee Cervantes. This is an official site for all biographical, critical, bibliographic and literary information related to the published works in an informal environment. Think of this as my home office and a place I'll open up to you in order to address your many questions and requests. I receive 2-3 letters & emails a week requesting interviews, etc. from students at all levels who need help with papers, exams, oral reports, projects, and general interest. Although such attention is stimulating to a writer such as myself, not to mention, flattering, it is also unprecedented, and takes a good deal of my time away from my own work -- in order to answer questions about a poem I wrote 25 years ago, a poem which still seems to represent me today: a curious state of affairs when you think about it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not disowning any of the words or sentiments or poetics of an earlier age, I'm just pointing out that, as a Chicana poet, I have an extra burden of responsibility to my readers as though they were my constituents, a burden to my creative work which is necessarily engaged with the future as little as it engages with the past except as the hidden warp. I'll be creating links for this site; meanwhile, go to Ana Castillo's blog for a very interesting discussion of this diacritic phenomena.

This site is also designed in order to dispel rumors and biographical errors caused by the publication and incorporation of some high school students' work from my involvement in the Online Poetry Project into the major textbook sites. For example, I assure you, I did not begin reading Shakespeare at age 6 (I was 10), nor did I complete my doctorate, publish my first book and begin teaching at CU-Boulder all in 1979. Nor am I "afraid of rejection", nor is that somehow the reason for my relative lack of po-biz presence. My focus as a poet has always been upon THE BOOK; and my interest as a long-time independent publisher (and printer) has always been intent upon retaining the rights to my individual poems and publishing extensively in anthologies and text-books as opposed to journals and magazines -- however prestigious, as well as distributing my poetry free and liberally throughout the internet (sometimes anonymously) throughout the past 15 years. Honing my craft to excellence in order to attain a presence, and voice, in anthologies published by Norton, Heath, Pearson, just to name a few, always seemed to this barrio lass a goal in which to strive; again, due to my constituency and the cross-cultures I represent to others. Another burden to my literary and academic career which I voluntarily assume. Y con gusto. ¿Y qué?

Anyway, it's not all going to be as heavy as that. What I'll be doing is answering my backlog of mail -- most too late to help you with your reports or tests, but, hey, at least I'm not charging you for it -- yet. (ha) ;-) But the same questions come up frequently so I'll get to your poem eventually. I'm working on a nonfiction book that is memoir in parts, literary in others, and scholarly in others; so, perhaps I'll post some of that, and use this to get my hands in some of the material. Eventually I'll be including a Lorna Dee timeline, and who knows what.

This blog will be suitable FOR ALL AGES -- so keep that in mind with your questions and comments when I open them later. I hope to include useful links to resources and other poets as well as sharing some exercises and tips. Maybe even a workshop site if there's interest.

I was going to wait to have this site up until I return from sabbatical in mid-January, but with my new book, DRIVE: The First Quartet now out, I'm getting swamped with mail to the university and email. (Someone recently called my office, a young woman, and I hope she calls back because I couldn't hear a word of the message for her television blasting in the background!) So, this will be a little spare as I continue to work on a new novel in December and prepare to begin teaching in the fall. (All undergrad workshops again this year.) :-(

And, last but not lost enough to make me feel less guilty about it, this site is to help me organize my "Brownie Points", sorry, that's how I have to think of them, all those accomplishments one must state bluntly and in detail in order to attain one's badge or worse, one's membership in some designated elite corps, like counting coup on the dead horse of one's self. One thing about me, I like to think I'm humble and it embarrasses me to call attention to myself -- and as a native person, it grates against my indigenous American cultural values of humility, compassion, equality, and the Four Cardinal virtues. So sorry, I don't mean to come off all, LD's gone all Big Head Todd or something. (Great band, by the way -- it just sounds funny to me to say it. I love a laugh. I try to do it all the time.)

I can be kind of to quite goofy. Life is too serious to be taken that way. But, the closer I come to death, the more I want to live to document the artifact. Is that poetry?

More soon. I'm going to bed with the rooster's crow and to the tune of De Colores. Make yourself at home. If you're over 18 come visit me at my home blog where I'm always home and you'll never know qué dice La Lorna.

C/S