Floricanto en Aztlán

Alurista (Poetry); Judith Hernandez (Art)

Editorial: Chicano Studies Center, University of California • 1976

• Second Printing (1976). En inglés y español (Bilingüe). Cubierta algo deslucida. Fecha y firma en página de respeto. With these 100 poems Alurista (Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia) created a highly original poetics that upset the literary conventions of the era. Floricanto en Aztlán was first published in 1971, at the height of the Chicano Movement. In this groundbreaking work Alurista presented a new and essentially Chicano poetic language that is part Spanish and part English, with references to the indigenous languages of Mexico. Using Aztlán, the mythical homeland of the Aztecs, as a unifying metaphor and employing indigenous symbols to describe barrio life, the poet inspired his readers, cultivating pride in their cultural past. In these poems Alurista calls on la raza to celebrate their heritage and to find their political voice. The prints by Judithe Hernández create a dialogue with Alurista's work by depicting poetic references to ancient cosmology and contemporary oppression.