Lunadas @ Galeria de la Raza
w/ Joël Barraquiel Tan & Jaime Cortez
October 3rd
Mission District, San Francisco
Book Release Party!!!
w/Corrine Clegg Hales, Marisol Baca & Lance Canales
Hosted by Tim Z Hernandez
October 17th
Palaminos Restaurant/Bar
Tower District, Fresno, CA
Chicano Literary Conference
Fresno City College
w/ Gary Soto, Alex Espinoza, & Teresa Tarazi
November 4th
Fresno, CA
Interview w/ Miguel Jimenez
sponsored by Chicano Writers & Artists Association
CSU, Fresno
November 12th
Fresno, CA
Sacramento Poetry Center
w/ Lee Herrick
November 23rd
Sacramento, CA
California State University, Fresno
w/ Sasha Pimentel Chacon
February 5, 2010
Fresno, CA
University of Minnesota
"First Books" Reading Series
Reading & classroom visit
March 25, 2010
Minneapolis, MN
Friday, September 18, 2009
Born in the Cavity of Sunsets Out This Month!
Bilingual Review Press
Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 875303, Tempe, Arizona 85287-5303
Voice: (480) 965-3867, Fax: (480) 965-0315, Web: www.asu.edu/brp, E-mail: brp@asu.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Amy Phillips, amy.k.phillips@asu.edu
Born in the Cavity of Sunsets
poetry by Michael Luis Medrano
$11.00, paper, ISBN 978-1-931010-66-5, 80 pp.
The Bilingual Review Press is pleased to announce the release of Michael Luis Medrano's first book of poetry, Born in the Cavity of Sunsets, a powerful and haunting collection written in the vein of such luminaries as Pablo Neruda and Allen Ginsberg. In these poems, Medrano shows us life in his hometown of Fresno, California, in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. There one can never see the actual moment when the sun slips beyond the horizon because too many buildings block the view. "In Fresno we don’t say, 'Let’s go watch the sun set,' like they do in San Diego," Medrano explains.
The poet's Fresno is not a bustling, vibrant place. Instead, we read of broken sidewalks, warring gangs, brothels, booze and despair. In edgy verse, Medrano reveals a world of shadow and sacrifice, but he also shows us light, hope and humor with a wry voice. Born in the Cavity of Sunsets is poetry for the people, but what a reader takes from it is up to the individual. "I’ve been told that these poems form an elegy, a letter. I've heard people say that there’s anger in this collection, that it’s embedded in generosity, that I’m a voice for the contemporary Chicana or Chicano and that I’m not," Medrano says. "All I know is that I’m a storyteller and these tales are told in a way that also pays homage to my own, personal rhythms as a poet. It’s language, breath, wisdom and reconciliation; it’s also light and shadow and sacrifice."
Michael Luis Medrano holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and he has performed his work at Stanford University, The Loft Literary Arts Center in Minneapolis and the University of Colorado, Boulder. He served as poetry editor for the literary journal Flies, Cockroaches, & Poets, is featured on the spoken word CD "The Central Chakrah Project" (Metamorfosis Productions) and has taught writing workshops in Fresno and Minneapolis. Once again based in Fresno, Medrano is teaching, hosting a literary radio show and writing a novel and a second collection of poetry.
"This collection is amazing. It soars, leaps, and also bows down to the earth and its dark bones. What I love about Medrano’s work is his sincerity and his touching reach, his tender voices. . . . Medrano is ahead of his cadre. His reach is expansive."
—Juan Felipe Herrera, University of California, Riverside
"Michael Medrano reawakens what it means to be a poet in America. As we go into a new century, it is this kind of poetry that is required reading. . . . When we close [his] book, we have reestablished who we are as citizens of a rich, poetic landscape."
—Ray González, author of Consideration of the Guitar: New and Selected Poems
"Michael Medrano is an impressive voice—his poetry is witty and wry without losing any heart and soul. He vividly brings up stereotypes, then dashes them to pieces. . . . He takes you on journeys with a wink and a smile and his arm clasped around your back."
—Bao Phi, featured on HBO's Def Poetry
Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 875303, Tempe, Arizona 85287-5303
Voice: (480) 965-3867, Fax: (480) 965-0315, Web: www.asu.edu/brp, E-mail: brp@asu.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Amy Phillips, amy.k.phillips@asu.edu
Born in the Cavity of Sunsets
poetry by Michael Luis Medrano
$11.00, paper, ISBN 978-1-931010-66-5, 80 pp.
The Bilingual Review Press is pleased to announce the release of Michael Luis Medrano's first book of poetry, Born in the Cavity of Sunsets, a powerful and haunting collection written in the vein of such luminaries as Pablo Neruda and Allen Ginsberg. In these poems, Medrano shows us life in his hometown of Fresno, California, in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. There one can never see the actual moment when the sun slips beyond the horizon because too many buildings block the view. "In Fresno we don’t say, 'Let’s go watch the sun set,' like they do in San Diego," Medrano explains.
The poet's Fresno is not a bustling, vibrant place. Instead, we read of broken sidewalks, warring gangs, brothels, booze and despair. In edgy verse, Medrano reveals a world of shadow and sacrifice, but he also shows us light, hope and humor with a wry voice. Born in the Cavity of Sunsets is poetry for the people, but what a reader takes from it is up to the individual. "I’ve been told that these poems form an elegy, a letter. I've heard people say that there’s anger in this collection, that it’s embedded in generosity, that I’m a voice for the contemporary Chicana or Chicano and that I’m not," Medrano says. "All I know is that I’m a storyteller and these tales are told in a way that also pays homage to my own, personal rhythms as a poet. It’s language, breath, wisdom and reconciliation; it’s also light and shadow and sacrifice."
Michael Luis Medrano holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and he has performed his work at Stanford University, The Loft Literary Arts Center in Minneapolis and the University of Colorado, Boulder. He served as poetry editor for the literary journal Flies, Cockroaches, & Poets, is featured on the spoken word CD "The Central Chakrah Project" (Metamorfosis Productions) and has taught writing workshops in Fresno and Minneapolis. Once again based in Fresno, Medrano is teaching, hosting a literary radio show and writing a novel and a second collection of poetry.
"This collection is amazing. It soars, leaps, and also bows down to the earth and its dark bones. What I love about Medrano’s work is his sincerity and his touching reach, his tender voices. . . . Medrano is ahead of his cadre. His reach is expansive."
—Juan Felipe Herrera, University of California, Riverside
"Michael Medrano reawakens what it means to be a poet in America. As we go into a new century, it is this kind of poetry that is required reading. . . . When we close [his] book, we have reestablished who we are as citizens of a rich, poetic landscape."
—Ray González, author of Consideration of the Guitar: New and Selected Poems
"Michael Medrano is an impressive voice—his poetry is witty and wry without losing any heart and soul. He vividly brings up stereotypes, then dashes them to pieces. . . . He takes you on journeys with a wink and a smile and his arm clasped around your back."
—Bao Phi, featured on HBO's Def Poetry
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Pakatelas & Co. meets The San Francisco Mime Troupe: A Review of the July 8, 2009 performance @ CSU Summer Arts, Fresno, CA.
I sat at the top of the John Wright Theater at Fresno State and had the time of my life. Yeah, this one of those reviews riddled with cliches, those overused metaphors I try to avoid. I am an English teacher so I should know better. And my girlfriend, who went with me to see the world famous San Francisco Mime Troupe, who also has a degree in English, couldn’t help to avoid the cliché herself.
“Are they going to act without talking?” She mimes as if she were in a box, trapped and banging to be let out. We have all seen this and I laugh outloud because I can picture her on stage.
She had never seen nor heard of the troupe. I only read about the famous performances; benefit plays for the Black Panthers in the sixties, their radically political dramas. So, in essence, we were only familiar with our carbon-cutout references.
Not only did the San Francisco Mime Troupe talk, they sang! The actors danced and weaved with spider-like precision; they were true masters in the art of slapstick and physical comedy and the capacity crowd, whether a longtime fan or new ones like me and Esmeralda; dare I say cliché #2?: felt as if we were in the presence of greatness. Even the energy in the theater topped a Patrick Contreras concert (who is quickly becoming the standard in Fresno’s rock scene); the SFMT are the best of the best, are laying it down, are taking names and running away with the title.
Oh, how the English majors are cringing in their literary britches! Frankly, my bookworm darlings, I don’t give a damn! The San Francisco Mime Troupe rocked and I got the lipstick tattoo on the cheek to prove it.
“Are they going to act without talking?” She mimes as if she were in a box, trapped and banging to be let out. We have all seen this and I laugh outloud because I can picture her on stage.
She had never seen nor heard of the troupe. I only read about the famous performances; benefit plays for the Black Panthers in the sixties, their radically political dramas. So, in essence, we were only familiar with our carbon-cutout references.
Not only did the San Francisco Mime Troupe talk, they sang! The actors danced and weaved with spider-like precision; they were true masters in the art of slapstick and physical comedy and the capacity crowd, whether a longtime fan or new ones like me and Esmeralda; dare I say cliché #2?: felt as if we were in the presence of greatness. Even the energy in the theater topped a Patrick Contreras concert (who is quickly becoming the standard in Fresno’s rock scene); the SFMT are the best of the best, are laying it down, are taking names and running away with the title.
Oh, how the English majors are cringing in their literary britches! Frankly, my bookworm darlings, I don’t give a damn! The San Francisco Mime Troupe rocked and I got the lipstick tattoo on the cheek to prove it.
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