[su_slider source=”media: 29070,29071,29072,29073,29074,29075″ limit=”25″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider]<\/p>\n
The Chicano poet Francisco Xavier Alarc\u00f3n died on Jan. 15, 2016\u2014 four days after a celebration of his life and work was held at Caf\u00e9 La Boheme in San Francisco\u2019s Mission District. On that day an overflow crowd of family and friends were present to hear Francisco read his work in public for the last time.<\/p>\n
Francisco rose to prominence as an outstanding poet in the early 1980s, when he won the first Ruben Dar\u00edo Poetry Prize awarded by Casa Nicaragua. He was also a Fulbright Fellow in Mexico, and published his first major collection of poetry \u201cSnake Poems.\u201d<\/p>\n
During this decade he was also a member of the Roque Dalton Cultural Brigade, and his translations appear in \u201cVolc\u00e1n: Poetry from Central America,\u201d and \u201cTomorrow Triumphant: Selected Poems of Otto Rene Castillo.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more than 30 years, he was a leading figure in Latino poetry, as well as a widely published children\u2019s author. Four times he traveled to El Salvador as participant in the International Children\u2019s Poetry Festival \u201cManyula,\u201d where he did readings, lectures and poetry workshops for children, young adults and teachers.<\/p>\n
He was one of the first Latino poets to write openly about LGBTQ issues, and his last book \u201cCanto Hondo,\u201d is both a celebration of Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca, and of his own sensuality.<\/p>\n
He was buried Saturday, Jan. 23 in Long Beach, California. He will be greatly missed in both the Latino community and in the literary world.<\/p>\n
Francisco\u2014son of the late Guadalajara, Mexico-born Jesus Pastor Alarc\u00f3n\u2014is survived by his mother Consuelo, siblings Juan Antonio, Jose Arturo, Jesus Carlos, Berta Olivia, Josue Samuel, Esthela, and by his partner Javier Pinz\u00f3n.<\/p>\n
His last plea at his celebration will reverberate for a long time: \u201cViva la Vida!\u201d<\/p>\n
[su_box title=”In El Salvador even the Moon is a Pupusa” style=”glass”]I met Francisco X. Alarc\u00f3n in the early \u201880s, shortly after I arrived to San Francisco from El Salvador. Panchito was already a well-known poet. He was a member of the Roque Dalton Cultural Brigade along with other poets, Alejandro Murguia (founder of the Brigade and current Poet Laureate of San Francisco), the current Poet Laureate of the United States, Juan Felipe Herrera, Jack Hirschman, Barbara Paschke and David Volpendesta.<\/p>\n
I met Francisco at the place where most of us gathered, Caf\u00e9 La Boheme in San Francisco\u2019s Mission District. Francisco baptized this coffee house, \u201cThe Cathedral of Poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n
I traveled with Francisco four times to El Salvador, to participate in The Annual International Children\u2019s Poetry Festival \u201cManyula.\u201d Francisco was so happy to contribute. He shared with me the vision that through the gentle power of poetry we could help Salvadoran children and youth stay away from violence and have hope for a better future. Francisco did readings, lectures and poetry workshops for children, youth and teachers.<\/p>\n
Years earlier he helped me organize the poems I would publish in my first children\u2019s poetry book, \u201cA Movie in my Pillow.\u201d I will always be thankful to Francisco for his guidance and recommendations for this book. He truly loved El Salvador, its people, landscape and food.<\/p>\n
One day on a break from the festival we walked the short distance from the library, where the festival is held to the San Salvador Cathedral to pay a visit to Monsignor Romero\u2019s crypt (El Salvador\u2019s beloved priest who was assassinated by right-wing death squads in the 80\u2019s). Francisco was deeply moved to see his tomb, and wrote a poem about this special visit. He shed tears and said to me, \u201cI understand why El Salvador must continue to struggle for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
That evening a wonderful full moon shone in the Salvadoran sky. Francisco laughed loud and with his magical smile said, \u201cHere even the moon is a pupusa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Jorge Argueta[\/su_box]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[su_slider source=”media: 29070,29071,29072,29073,29074,29075″ limit=”25″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] The Chicano poet Francisco Xavier Alarc\u00f3n died on Jan. 15, 2016\u2014 four days after a celebration of his life and work was held at Caf\u00e9 La Boheme in San Francisco\u2019s Mission District. On that day an overflow crowd of family and friends were present to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":29077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[5625,7789,7777,7765,7785,4715,7791,3763,7781,7783,5397,7779,3782,7775,7769,7763,7767,7773,7787,7771],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-29069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-cafe-la-boheme","tag-california-en","tag-canto-hondo","tag-casa-nicaragua","tag-consuelo-alarcon","tag-el-salvador-en","tag-federico-garcia-lorca-en","tag-francisco-x-alarcon-en","tag-guadalajara","tag-jesus-pastor-alarcon","tag-lgbtq-en","tag-long-beach","tag-mexico-en","tag-nternational-childrens-poetry-festival-manyula","tag-roque-dalton-cultural-brigade","tag-ruben-dario-poetry-prize","tag-snake-poems","tag-tomorrow-triumphant-selected-poems-of-otto-rene-castillo","tag-viva-la-vida","tag-volcan-poetry-from-central-america","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n