For poetry lovers: Ekiweh Adler-Belendez

[LWolf]

is a 21 yo poet I had the pleasure to meet, to chat with, and to hear read, at our local literary festival last week.

He's an unusual young man. Not because of his disability (cerebral palsy,) although that certainly shapes who he is, but because he is profoundly gifted. He has an incredibly powerful voice.

He has dual citizenship, American and Mexican, and writes poems in two languages. His first volume of poetry, in Spanish, was published when he was 13 years old.

When he read to a packed audience at our local theater, he held us spellbound. Many in the crowd were in tears. The crowd ROARED approval after each poem that he read. It was truly a first for me. I picked up Weaver, his first collection in English, published when he was 16. I spent this morning curled up with a cup of coffee, happily lost in his poems.

Has anyone here read or heard him?

Here is a link to some info:

http://www.blueflowerarts.com/ekiwah.html

It includes, at the bottom of the page, one of my favorite poems from Weaver:

<snip>

THE IRREVERSIBLE WORD

In endless seas of words I struggle,
barnacles of distraction
cling idle to my boat.
Me alone with my images
like fish riding on the water
or coral reefs deep below the surface.
I pull on the oars,
but why do I struggle if I know
I will never reach the shore?
My poem still incomplete, I am a bird
knowing I will never reach the sun's round
perfection. Why then do I struggle
trying to weave these threads of words?
Beyond, beyond, always beyond
sailing to the horizon,
no boundaries on the sea nor in the sunlit sky.
My journey is always beginning,
that in itself keeps me content.
If one day I reach the shore
or fly like a phoenix to meet the source of light
or make my poem complete
and weave my words into a cloak of patterns
and go back to the Irreversible Word
from which all words came forth,
then I'd be silent
for fear of staining
the delicate silk of its totality.
In the meantime here I come!
pulling on the oars,
and there's plenty of songs
to keep me going.

[msedano]

1. Another for you: Raw Silk Suture

http://www.elpasotimes.com/living/ci_10936571

"I ache with memory" reads a revealing line in Lisa Alvarado's stark debut book of poems "Raw Silk Suture" (Floricanto Press, $11.95 paperback). From this pain, the poet composes heartfelt verses that reach for moments of clarity as the troubling dust settles: "Ashes, ashes, everywhere."
The speaker engages in three different conversations: a conflicted relationship with her parents, an eye-opening role as a domestic worker, and the yearnings for an unnamed significant other. Each of these

[LWolf]

2. Thank you.

In addition to the author readings I attended Thursday night, I attended an open mic session this morning, and the poems are plucking the strings of my soul. I seem to be particularly receptive these days.