Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Songs of Empowerment

by Daniel García Ordaz

A code-switching collection of diverse poetic forms, styles, and personas celebrating the dynamics of the human voice & spirit. Daniel García Ordaz, the Poet Mariachi, the author of You Know What I'm Sayin'?, encourages readers to perform the text aloud, such as his adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet." A polyglottic exhibition of empowerment through performance. Influenced by and dedicated to the memories of Maya Angelou and Gloria E. Anzaldúa.

100 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2018

About the author

TEDx Speaker Daniel García Ordaz, a.k.a. The Poet Mariachi, is a dual enrollment college instructor and high school English teacher. He serves as the 2023 and 2024/2025 McAllen Poet Laureate. His work has been taught and written about by academics across the U.S. and abroad and he is a 2018 Pushcart Prize nominee. García has an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is also a singer/songwriter, former journalist, photographicationisticator, and word-maker-upper. García appears in the documentary, "ALTAR: Cruzando fronteras/Building bridges." He is the founder of the Rio Grande Valley Int'l. Poetry Festival. García served in the U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. His individual book titles include the #1 bestseller books and ebook You Know What I'm Sayin'? and Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Songs of Empowerment (and its YA version), as well as the #1 bestseller ebook Pet Names. His new middle grades collection, Read Until You Bleed: Funny and Thoughtful Poems For Funny and Thoughtful Children, is now in print. García's work has appeared in several journals and anthologies.

Reviews

[Raul M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry is the showcase in this collection. However, the highlight for me turned out to be a re-telling of the scene from Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" in which the lovers meet for the first time. In this case, the scene takes place in a contemporary fiesta attended by "vatos locos" and "chicas suaves." The same lines are found as in the play, yet rendered in Pachuco dialect -- this had me grinning, with its interpretive genius, and its familiarity due to my having grown up in southernmost Texas.

What initially struck me was the book's Introduction (by Michael Jones) which challenged me to reassess my continued difficulties comprehending modern free-verse. Each "chapter" starts with a Maya Angelou quote as the epigraph, hinting at a common theme in the subsequent poems. My favorite section has nearly each poem arrange its text practically into visual art; one in particular -- "Heaven Sent," which is a summary of the Gospels -- had me do a double-take when I reach the end. 

While only a few poems still came across as vague to me, the majority successfully conveyed to me themes ranging from the somber to the humorous (the latter being ironic or even base). The Preface encourages vocal recitation; yet I'd love to see someone else do so with "Los Nalgazos Café" as I'd not have the nerve to do it in front of a crowd! In my opinion, a familiarity with colloquial Spanish helped me appreciate many of the poems (notably the parody of the song "Despacito").

[Gabriel Núñez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I heard the author read one of his poems on the radio. I was quite happy with what I read. I particularly enjoyed the poetic use of bilingualism. Am happy to recommend it.