Red Salmon Arts

“stupid america

stupid america, see that
chicano
with a big knife
on his steady hand
he doesn’t want to knife you
he wants to sit on a bench
and carve christfigures
but you won’t let him.
stupid america, hear that
chicano
shouting curses on the street
he is a poet
without paper and pencil
and since he cannot write
he will explode.
stupid america, remember
that chicano
flunking math and english
he is the picasso
of your western states
but he will die
with one thousand
masterpieces
hanging only from his mind.”
― Abelardo Delgado, Chicano: 25 Pieces of a Chicano Mind

“Una bala mata a un hombre. Una idea revolucionaria despierta a cientos o a miles de personas.”
― Raúl R. Salinas (raúlrsalinas)

“Chicana intifada


Rocks are our weapons of choice,
indeed the only ones that we have stockpiled.
We never worry about running out of them.
After all, our unpaved streets are filled with rocks.
We have wiped the dirt off them so that they may sail
with a smooth hardness when we fling them into the air.
We shall name each one of our rocks for the family members
we have lost each year of the hundreds of years we’ve lived in
these parts—as indios, as mestizos, as “Hi-panics.”
For starters, we plan to break a few windows
of the jefe’s casota nueva.
I myself will be delighted to land one in each pane:
center, left, right, top, bottom—the exact location
doesn’t much matter.
Why should his fancy house remain intact
while we cannot count on running water?

No one will suspect
that an abuela is la capitana of the Chicana intifada,
with her disguise of hat and gloves,
of shiny earrings and sheer “nude” pantyhose;
with her polite yes, ma’aming.

“We’ll launch the first volleys at 6 p.m.,”
she whispers to us. Smiling wryly, she adds,
“Inside the house at a reception to which
I’ve been properly invited you’ll see me
lower my right gloved hand to the marble table.”


Copyright (C) Teresa Palomo Acosta, 2007. All rights reserved.”
― Teresa Palomo Acosta

“Some will no doubt find this acontecimiento del vivir of no special consequence. . . . For me, it is merely the poetic/political of a road well travelled; a humble,creative and retrospective recording to share with the world.—Preface of Sorts, 12/08/81, 6:00 a.m.”
― Raúl R. Salinas (raúlrsalinas), Memoir of Un Ser Humano: The Life and Times de raúlrsalinas