Speak,.Poet: Voz, Palabra y Sonido August 9, 2012 Features biographies.

Introducing one half of this Thursday’s feature… Maria Gallegos!Maria Gallegos is a working class Nuevo MeXicana born in Las Vegas, NM; calls the rural farming community of Puerto de Luna, NM her hometown but ‘Burque has been home for the past 19 years. Early in her life, Maria was taught the value of listening to the stories in the community around her- for those stories held the history and the truth. It was then that she decided to make it a life mission to meet as man…

y people as possible and hear their stories.After 17 years of working “for the man,” Maria left her work as an environmental scientistto do labor, political and community organizing. She took a year off from structured work environment to write and enjoy the New Mexico Sky Azul.

Maria has been called trouble maker, agitator, rebel rouser, hocicona, radical socialist and day dreamer (she prefers day dreamer/Mom/Hermana/Comadre/Daughter/Meztiza or simply- a
complex coalescence of cultures…)

Maria attended junior high school in Action City (Anton Chico, NM, USA- Go Tigers) and it was there she was required to memorize a poem for a Xicano Studies class. That poem was No Se Raje, Chicanita by Gloria Anzaldua. As a teen, Maria began writing in a journal- then her father found one of her poems… he confronted her and said that she had a way with words that was “dangerous” and he destroyed the poem.

After many, many years (and secret journal entries) Maria found her way to sharing her writings. She has had poems published in the National Labor College Creative Writing Anthology and,
in 2012, wrote four vignettes which were performed in Albuquerque and Santa Fe at events celebrating International Women’s Day. She did her first open mic poetry event in Espanola,
NM thanks to the support of one Adan Baca.

Priscilla Baca y Candelaria a native of Atrisco, has been published in several Anthologies, her poem Mama’s Kitchen won a mothers day competition in 5magazine. Priscilla’s writings reflects her love for familia, jente and equal rights.

Poem: Dishonored Icon Images from Tierra Amarilla

Driving into Tierra Amarilla
I see the familiar image on the
left hand side of the road.
The image,
un guerrero who resembles Emiliano Zapata,
Mexican Revolution.
The sign reads,
“Viva Zapata”
y
“Tierra o Muerte”
A battle cry from the 1960s
Land Grant Movement.
1967, a year that changed Nuevo Mexico.
Tijerina y La Allianza
storm the Tierra Amarilla Court House
in search of justice,
a justice that has been denied to
hiars of Spanish and Mexican Land Grants.
Police officers shot in the search for district attorney, Sanchez.
The history is kept below the radar
nuestros jovenes, denied the knowledge
of our struggle to regain our lands
a struggle to maintain the the lands
that our antepasados worked, gave blood and sweat
to produce a livelihood that would sustain our familias for generations.
I drive into Tierra Amarilla and see that iconic image
with its battle cry, “Tierra o Muerte”
Calling out “Viva Zapata”.
I see two arrows de-facing our image of
Resistance
our image of
a forgotten time
our image
of El Guerrero del Movimento de La Mercedes.

This image below is the image that has been shot at with arrows.

This image is was taken a few weeks prior, it not yet been shot with arrows.