Review of Alarcon’s new book: Ce•Uno•One

Ce•Uno•One: Poems para el Nuevo Sol / Poems for the New Sun (Swan Scythe Press 2010) by Francisco X. Alarcón

I first read this book of short poems in the time it took for three BART stations to pass, my mind was calmed, reassured and lured into new and ancient realms. Ce•Uno•One by Francisco X. Alarcón, meaning “One” in three languages, raises the questions following me since childhood. Questions like: What will happen to my soul when I die and my body rots? Or my old favorite, “What will happen to this inner voice I call ‘me’?”

But while I pondered the poems, written in the simplest language, I was tempted to say them aloud very quietly in the five languages they appear: English; Spanish; Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs; Mapuche, the language of indigenous people of Argentina and Chile; and Gaelic, the original language of Ireland. With my face hidden behind the book I mumbled new sounds against the hum of train. They became chants on oneness, and how it applies to my essential question about the life of the soul after death.

We enter Ce•Uno•One strongly rooted in oneness as Francisco X. Alarcón opens with the poetic declaration that there is only one soul in the poem “One Soul, One World.” This is from his transcription of a Mapuche song sung to him at a canoe rental site in Argentina by a chief’s great granddaughter. It establishes the fundamental principle that there are no individual souls just the one collective soul, of which we are all a part:

the whole Earth

is just one Soul

we are part of her–

our souls cannot really die

We move on to Alarcón’s own beautiful strong poems and the reader is quickly brought to the blissful state of nirvana, not wanting:

“Nothing”

alone

I have

nothing

and

desire

everything

with you

I have

everything

and

desire

nothing

So few words used and so much meaning expressed.

The title of the book Ce•Uno•One reflects three of the languages, Nahuatl, Spanish and English. The subtitle “Poemas para un Nuevo Sol / Poems for the New Sun” refers to the upcoming year 2012, which mainstream culture has us fear as “the end of the world.” But Alarcón reassures us that like the celebrated theory of thermo-dynamics “everything / that has been / and will be / is here and now.” No need to fear the date – or each other; “no separation / between / spirit and body / you and me” the poet says.

Poem after poem speaks of oneness in distinct ways and as I read the poems I looked at my fellow passengers. If we are all part of one soul then we are all accepted and no one is left out. It was a beautiful moment. Anxiety and stress dissolved faster than a magic pill.

But while we are all one we are also individuals like the Aztec Lord Xochipilli in the poem of the same name, who flirts and dances “…leaving behind / his dark / sunglasses / and flowers / blooming / in every/ heart!”

This lovely volume is designed with some poems in only in two languages, usually Spanish/English. Others stand in varied combination of three and some full out in all glorious five.

Ce•Uno•One: Poemas para el Nuevo Sol /Poems for the New Sun is part of a new poetry series called Poetas•Puentes, whose mission is to help emerging poets (of any age) by publishing work that will help them begin or expand their careers —as poets, writers, teachers. Poetas•Puentes sees poets and poems as bridges across the divides of culture and language, or any of the other canyons that separate us.

About languages, Alarcón states in this excerpt from the poem “Words”:

…the words

from all

corners

and from

all eras

of the world

speak

the same

tongue

of rancor

of love

of dreams

But the worldview of Ce•Uno•One is not all bliss. We feel the shadow of this renewed wave of xenophobia and fear of immigrants in his poem of tribute “to all the poets and activists – defenders of life”. This is an excerpt:

…this poem

is everything

but faceless

it is a bright teenager

trapped in the dark

soulless, dreamless

no man’s land

that a Dream Act

could just vanish

this poem

cries from the back

of the bus

… “we have a heart

a soul, a familia

just like you”

this poem

is the unwritten

poem of this Land

Alarcón himself is a joyously activist poet who has established a virtual public space through the Internet on Facebook as “Poets Responding to SB 1070.” What Alarcón says of his teacher/mentor Don Luis Leal who lived to be 103-years-wise, we can say of Alarcón’s own work. Ce•Uno•One is:

…like a Chicano

Ulysses vanquisher

of ignorance

Read this simple book and explore your own peace, wisdom and joy. I did!

Alarcon’s book will be available at the FLORICANTO EN LA MISIÓN-A Collective Reading in Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of EL TECOLOTE at the Mission Cultural Center on Sunday August 29 from 7 to 9 pm.