COMPARSA … Elisa and Lupe Canela Pérez are two amazing young women. Political activism in the States can be dangerous, as we’ve seen with Bernadette Greene-Placentia, Democratic candidate in Arizona’s 8^th Congressional District, who was knocked unconscious this summer while repairing campaign signs and then raped in Sun City, a suburb of Phoenix. But in Guatemala it can be a death sentence. Read Granddaughters of the Corn: Portraits of Guatemalan Women by Marilyn Anderson and Jonathan Garlock (Curbstone Press, 1988). Between 1961 and 1996 the civil war in Guatemala claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people, over 80% of whom were Maya Indians. As one source wrote, “A sure way to destroy a race is by the systematic massacre of its women and children.”

But women in Guatemala (Guatemaltecas), both Mayan and mixed blood, are standing up in spite of the risks. As Marta Gloria Torres, of RUOG (United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition) has written, “Women have always participated but now we understand that this is the time for us to accept responsibilities. We can no longer remain victims, passively suffering. What’s happening is that different women, in different areas, are coming to the conviction that we have the power to change this society.”

Art and Elisa at an Original Thinker evening party

The Pérez sisters are two fantástica examples. After 41 girls were killed in a State-run “Safe Home” and the government refused to act, the sisters responded by organizing local youth in Ciudad Peronia to use art and performance to heal deep wounds and inspire their barrio. They decide to host a comparsa — an exuberant street performance featuring towering puppets, fire-breathing stilt walkers, and thundering drums. With brave vulnerability and creative flair, they expose a system that permits and commits violence against women. And they speak up about surviving violence themselves.

Vickie Curtis and Doug Anderson made their story into an award-winning documentary that appeared this year as one of the showcase features of at the ninth iteration of Original Thinkers, David Holbrooke’s film platform at the intersection of story and idea for emerging public intellectuals. I find it the most sophisticated festival of all Telluride’s offerings, with opportunities for experiencing more than just celluloid chronicles. Like this year, that included an Indigenous-led cacao ceremony, ecstatic dancing as well as ample opportunities for lively conversations and new friendships. Such as I was able to make with the Pérez sisters.

Find out more about Original Thinkers here and see the Comparsa trailer and learn where the film will be shown next nearest you.

CHOLLA NEEDLES … New Mexico poet Miriam Sagan edited #117 of this long-standing litzine published monthly from Joshua Tree, California, since 13016 [AD 2016]. Sagan is a celebrated Southwest poet and author with over 30 books of poetry, fiction and memoir. I was delighted she reached out to me for her issue of this fascinating community journal founded by r soos and successfully continuing for over a decade now. I love their motto: “a poem is a mere cholla needle imbedded painfully deep through the skin / when withdrawn the scar lengthens and the pain worsens / time heals the pain/ the scar remains forever.” Find out more about their work here. Here’s one of the seven poems they published of mine:

Resolution

Spare us the frenzies
of our national addiction to
news not close at hand

May the radiant light
of our bodies
bless the darkness

Shah

FISCHER PRIZE FOR POETRY … In its 30^th year, named for daredevil polyglot poet and lawyer Mark Fischer, who died tragically in a skiing accident, the contest — sponsored by the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds Poetry program — has moved from a national to an international stage, receiving submissions from countries around the world, including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, the Philippines, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

This year’s winner was Parvi Shah from Brooklyn, New York, poet of Terrain Tracks (New Rivers Press, 2006) and Miracle Marks (Curbstone Books, 2019). She receives $1000 and the five finalists this year $250 each: Carlos Andrés Gómez of Georgia for his poem “Mnemonic” first published in Prairie Schooner, Forester McClatchey of Georgia for “Root Words,” Michael Thompson of the Navajo Nation for “Red Stick Noonshine” first published in Poetry, Marianne Kunkel of Missouri for “Sidetracked,” and Jen Karetnick of Florida for “Batch cooking for My Mother: A Deconstruction Manual.” Here’s an excerpt from Shah’s winning poem…

-from Between a Rock and —

…In the presence
of our oldest selves, communion
of rock & time, in the presence of life
ongoing, we commit to living

in the rock & the hard place,
to knowing ourselves

as emergence,
as future memory,
as the resistance from which freedom thrums

Schantz

CANTOR PRIZE FOR POETRY … In just its 9^th year, Elaine Fischer nèe Cantor was Mark’s h...

Resolution

Spare us the frenziesof our national addiction tonews not close at hand

May the radiant lightof our bodiesbless the darkness

-from Between a Rock and —

…In the presenceof our oldest selves, communionof rock & time, in the presence of lifeongoing, we commit to living

in the rock & the hard place, to knowing ourselves

as emergence,as future memory,as the resistance from which freedom thrums

Spare us the frenzies
of our national addiction to
news not close at hand

May the radiant light
of our bodies
bless the darkness

…In the presence
of our oldest selves, communion
of rock & time, in the presence of life
ongoing, we commit to living

in the rock & the hard place,
to knowing ourselves

as emergence,
as future memory,
as the resistance from which freedom thrums

Colorado Times Recorder

Message History

Delivery option(s)