Welcome to Sergio A. Ortiz!

This morning as I prepare for another day of grading papers I'd like to post some new poems. I am especially pleased to be able to post Sergio A. Ortiz's entries into the Latino/a Culture contest.  The pictures above and below are of Mercedes Sosa.  For more information about her, see her obituary in the Guardian:  http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/oct/05/mercedes-sosa-obituary  I'll be posting some of her songs below.

Requiem for Mercedes Sosa

Just in case Mercedes returns,

in case a bombó or a zampoña bring her back,

maybe she’ll return in the gallop of a chacarera,

or in the swell of a samba.

Hopefully a tango brings her back.

And if, once and for all, the songs she left,

the palpitations, the flora and fauna (happy

to have been conceived by the voice

of La Negra) bring her back: that is to say,

in case an airplane doesn’t,

or yet another concert, and even then,

Mercedes returns with her pure voice purer,

with her unadulterated voice

capable of making bread or birds appear;

and just in case Mercedes does return.

I’m buying two front seats,

one to sit down and watch her,

another one to dance and sing

until I’ve been revived.

Latino/a Culture is more than just music as this next poem "Yellow Flowers" shows:

Yellow Flowers

I saw flowers in mi abuelas garden,

perhaps they were not flowers,

maybe they were candy, my childhood,

yellow memories, lips, time,

little piles of light, echoes of the sun

immersed in darkness, golden orioles perching 

in the air or on the stems;

I saw flowers and possibly not flowers,

Perchance it was mi abuela,

my grandmother in yellow,

in multiple portraits,

portraits in the petals.

I told you,

they beat us

now come down

from that cross

and follow me

Short Bio:

           

Sergio A. Ortiz is the founding editor of Undertow Tanka Review. His collections of Tanka, For the Men to Come (2014), and From Life to Life (2014) were released by Amazon.  He’s a two time Pushcart nominee and a four time Best of the Web nominee.  His poems have been publish in over four hundred journals and anthologies.

What a wonderful way to begin!  Now for the music.....

We'll start with Mercedes Sosa's "Todo Cambia": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XkPHcmCv0

Here is her "Gracias a la Vida": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyOJ-A5iv5I

Let's include her "Zamba para Olvidar": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDAi4bI3mEc

I'll finish with a live version of her "Seranetero de Bombos": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWkH9O_4WFY

Enjoy!