"Flags are
bits of colored cloth that governments use
first to shrink-wrap people's brains and then as
ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead."
- Arundhati Roy
Poems from ¿Under What Bandera?
Anti-War Ofrendas from Minnesota y Califas
"What do
I think about the war in Iraq? I don't think about it ...
This is a war that's been going on since the invasion of North
America."
- Pedro Pietri
This book of ofrendas
is dedicated
to the lifework and memory of
Pedro Pietri (March 21, 1944 - March 3, 2004)
Pedro was a founding member of the Nuyorican
Poets Café, and throughout his lifetime dedicated himself
to the poetry of liberation, earning such titles as Poet Laureate
of the Young Lords Party, Honorary Member of the Royal Chicano
Air Force, El Reverendo de la Iglesia de la Madre de Tomates,
and Spanglish Metaphor Consultant of the Latin Insomniacs Motorcycle
Club Without Motorcycles. Though he wrote plays and poetry for
the better part of four decades, he is perhaps most widely known
for giving voice to the struggles, dreams, and disillusionment
of Puerto Ricans in New York with his poem "Puerto Rican
Obituary," published in 1973. Born into the American Inquisition,
he died of its greed, and is survived, celebrated, and greatly
missed by revolutionary poets across the globe.
Poets and visual artists included in
this chapbook/website retain all individual copyrights of their
poems and artwork. All rights reserved. No part of this book/website
may be used or reproduced in any way whatsoever without written
permission from the author(s), except for brief quotations for
reviews and scholarly work.
***
Red CalacArts Collective, P.O. Box
2309, National City, Califas 91951
(619) 434-9036 | RedCalacArts@cox.net
