WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.960 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:03.840 align:middle line:84% Sometimes being a writer, you can be a little perverse. 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:06.420 align:middle line:84% And this book has a book-length poem. 00:00:06.420 --> 00:00:09.360 align:middle line:84% It's about, I don't know, 160 pages long. 00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:10.860 align:middle line:84% And then the second part of the book 00:00:10.860 --> 00:00:13.110 align:middle line:90% is one poem that's a page long. 00:00:13.110 --> 00:00:13.860 align:middle line:90% And I like it. 00:00:13.860 --> 00:00:17.850 align:middle line:84% It's just-- it's just warped, and it feels good. 00:00:17.850 --> 00:00:19.890 align:middle line:84% But I was thinking about my family. 00:00:19.890 --> 00:00:23.430 align:middle line:84% I was the first of my family to graduate from college. 00:00:23.430 --> 00:00:25.382 align:middle line:90% And I'm a-- 00:00:25.382 --> 00:00:27.090 align:middle line:84% I was kidding with somebody the other day 00:00:27.090 --> 00:00:30.400 align:middle line:84% that I'm probably the first Urrea young man-- 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:32.430 align:middle line:84% I'm not that young anymore, but I was-- 00:00:32.430 --> 00:00:34.500 align:middle line:84% of my generation or younger who doesn't have 00:00:34.500 --> 00:00:38.730 align:middle line:84% a cross tattooed on this part of our skin or a gang tattoo 00:00:38.730 --> 00:00:41.010 align:middle line:90% somewhere. 00:00:41.010 --> 00:00:44.940 align:middle line:84% And my family is a sad family in a lot of ways 00:00:44.940 --> 00:00:46.950 align:middle line:84% because a lot of the young men are warriors. 00:00:46.950 --> 00:00:50.370 align:middle line:84% And they have no war, so they kill each other. 00:00:50.370 --> 00:00:53.340 align:middle line:84% My nephew Luis, who was named after me, 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:55.230 align:middle line:84% was burned to death, for example, 00:00:55.230 --> 00:00:57.630 align:middle line:90% by a rival Chicano gang. 00:00:57.630 --> 00:01:01.780 align:middle line:84% And not to gross you out, though grossness works, too, 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:06.150 align:middle line:84% but when he was burned, his body arched against the ground. 00:01:06.150 --> 00:01:09.030 align:middle line:84% And the only thing left of him were his shoulder blades 00:01:09.030 --> 00:01:10.980 align:middle line:90% and the soles of his feet. 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:13.890 align:middle line:84% And my brother Juan, again, the one 00:01:13.890 --> 00:01:18.660 align:middle line:84% related to this young woman, he never came home. 00:01:18.660 --> 00:01:23.100 align:middle line:84% And they filed a missing person's thing with the police. 00:01:23.100 --> 00:01:25.770 align:middle line:84% And the police told them, we think we have your son's body. 00:01:25.770 --> 00:01:27.300 align:middle line:90% Would you come identify it? 00:01:27.300 --> 00:01:29.220 align:middle line:84% And he went to the morgue thinking 00:01:29.220 --> 00:01:32.340 align:middle line:84% they were going to pull out a drawer. 00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:35.610 align:middle line:84% And they sat him down and set out a metal tray 00:01:35.610 --> 00:01:38.880 align:middle line:90% this big with a towel on it. 00:01:38.880 --> 00:01:41.670 align:middle line:84% And he knew it was Ricardo, Luis Ricardo, 00:01:41.670 --> 00:01:44.070 align:middle line:84% because on one shoulder blade, he 00:01:44.070 --> 00:01:46.380 align:middle line:84% had a tattoo of the Virgin of Guadalupe, 00:01:46.380 --> 00:01:49.710 align:middle line:84% and on the other shoulder blade, he had his girlfriend's name. 00:01:49.710 --> 00:01:52.920 align:middle line:90% So that's what was left of him. 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:54.930 align:middle line:84% And many other stories like that. 00:01:54.930 --> 00:01:57.960 align:middle line:84% And I started thinking about that generation of young men 00:01:57.960 --> 00:02:00.850 align:middle line:84% that I care so much about and love so much. 00:02:00.850 --> 00:02:04.170 align:middle line:84% And when I meet them at readings, they're so bright, 00:02:04.170 --> 00:02:06.990 align:middle line:84% and they're so creative, and they're so intelligent, 00:02:06.990 --> 00:02:10.440 align:middle line:84% and they're so powerful, and there's nowhere to go with it. 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:14.802 align:middle line:84% And one of the guys once told me, you know, they call me-- 00:02:14.802 --> 00:02:17.010 align:middle line:84% I was telling the class today, they call me the poet. 00:02:17.010 --> 00:02:18.210 align:middle line:90% You know, hey, poet. 00:02:18.210 --> 00:02:21.930 align:middle line:84% Go to all the high schools, hola, la poet. 00:02:21.930 --> 00:02:24.300 align:middle line:90% It's a poet. 00:02:24.300 --> 00:02:28.271 align:middle line:84% And my nephews call me "Tío Poet." 00:02:28.271 --> 00:02:30.235 align:middle line:90% [FAINT LAUGHTER] 00:02:30.235 --> 00:02:31.135 align:middle line:90% 00:02:31.135 --> 00:02:33.260 align:middle line:84% She'd kill me for telling you this, but many of you 00:02:33.260 --> 00:02:34.205 align:middle line:90% probably know my wife. 00:02:34.205 --> 00:02:35.330 align:middle line:90% And her name is Cinderella. 00:02:35.330 --> 00:02:36.788 align:middle line:84% Everybody thinks her name is Cindy, 00:02:36.788 --> 00:02:38.600 align:middle line:90% but her real name is Cinderella. 00:02:38.600 --> 00:02:41.450 align:middle line:84% And she tries to keep that a secret, but I 00:02:41.450 --> 00:02:45.140 align:middle line:84% keep outing her in all my books, dedicated to Cinderella. 00:02:45.140 --> 00:02:49.890 align:middle line:84% But we were at supper one time with the homies, the Urrea 00:02:49.890 --> 00:02:50.390 align:middle line:90% homies. 00:02:50.390 --> 00:02:52.910 align:middle line:84% And this one guy could not remember 00:02:52.910 --> 00:02:53.930 align:middle line:90% her name was Cinderella. 00:02:53.930 --> 00:02:56.000 align:middle line:84% And he keeps calling her "Tía Snow White." 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:57.590 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:57.590 --> 00:03:02.450 align:middle line:84% Hey, Tía Snow White, which I thought was pretty cool. 00:03:02.450 --> 00:03:05.220 align:middle line:90% 00:03:05.220 --> 00:03:07.620 align:middle line:84% And it was one of those-- this awful scenes where 00:03:07.620 --> 00:03:11.160 align:middle line:84% all the Mexican families all gathered, 00:03:11.160 --> 00:03:13.680 align:middle line:84% and they're trying to make a good impression on this wife. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:15.750 align:middle line:84% And then he calls her Tía Snow White. 00:03:15.750 --> 00:03:18.240 align:middle line:84% And everybody's like, oh, stop that! 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:22.530 align:middle line:84% And he said-- his answer was, hey, it's a fairy tale, 00:03:22.530 --> 00:03:23.940 align:middle line:90% she's white, what's the problem? 00:03:23.940 --> 00:03:26.315 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:26.315 --> 00:03:27.270 align:middle line:90% 00:03:27.270 --> 00:03:27.840 align:middle line:90% It's true. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:32.560 align:middle line:90% 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.375 align:middle line:84% But talking to those guys, they think 00:03:35.375 --> 00:03:37.000 align:middle line:84% it's really amazing that I write books. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:38.750 align:middle line:84% They don't read the books, but they really 00:03:38.750 --> 00:03:40.270 align:middle line:90% love it that I write them. 00:03:40.270 --> 00:03:42.070 align:middle line:90% And they show them to people. 00:03:42.070 --> 00:03:45.665 align:middle line:84% And I'll come home, and you know what those guys are like, 00:03:45.665 --> 00:03:46.165 align:middle line:90% the vatos. 00:03:46.165 --> 00:03:48.610 align:middle line:84% And they've got the little tiny sunglasses. 00:03:48.610 --> 00:03:51.210 align:middle line:84% And the dudes, "Hola, el tío," with a cigarette. 00:03:51.210 --> 00:03:53.050 align:middle line:90% Que pasa, ese? 00:03:53.050 --> 00:03:56.530 align:middle line:84% Tío Poet, write any new books, tío? 00:03:56.530 --> 00:03:57.610 align:middle line:90% Yeah, check it out. 00:03:57.610 --> 00:03:59.350 align:middle line:90% Oh, cool. 00:03:59.350 --> 00:04:00.190 align:middle line:90% And that's about it. 00:04:00.190 --> 00:04:01.340 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:01.340 --> 00:04:04.180 align:middle line:90% But it makes them happy. 00:04:04.180 --> 00:04:06.960 align:middle line:90% 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:08.760 align:middle line:84% So anyway, one of the vatos said to me 00:04:08.760 --> 00:04:13.230 align:middle line:84% once, nobody's ever going to write a poem about us, ese. 00:04:13.230 --> 00:04:18.060 align:middle line:84% And I thought, oh man, nobody's ever going 00:04:18.060 --> 00:04:20.130 align:middle line:90% to write a poem about you guys? 00:04:20.130 --> 00:04:21.600 align:middle line:90% So I wrote this for them. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:25.150 align:middle line:84% And it's sort of my prayer for them. 00:04:25.150 --> 00:04:27.675 align:middle line:84% It's called "Hymn to Vatos Who Will Never Be in a Poem." 00:04:27.675 --> 00:04:32.950 align:middle line:90% 00:04:32.950 --> 00:04:38.290 align:middle line:84% And it's all the same exact syllable count 00:04:38.290 --> 00:04:41.660 align:middle line:84% all the way through, so it's just a column of stuff. 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:44.260 align:middle line:84% So this is for my homies, "Hymn to Vatos 00:04:44.260 --> 00:04:47.620 align:middle line:90% Who Will Never Be in a Poem." 00:04:47.620 --> 00:04:50.800 align:middle line:84% All the vatos sleeping in the hillsides; 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:53.860 align:middle line:84% all the vatos say goodnight forever; 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:56.740 align:middle line:84% all the vatos loving their menudo; 00:04:56.740 --> 00:04:59.530 align:middle line:84% All the vatos faith in la tortilla; 00:04:59.530 --> 00:05:02.635 align:middle line:84% all the vatos fearing the alarm clock; 00:05:02.635 --> 00:05:07.410 align:middle line:84% all the vatos, Wino, Jefe, PeeWee; all the vatos, 00:05:07.410 --> 00:05:12.070 align:middle line:84% even the cabrones, all the vatos down por vida homeboys; 00:05:12.070 --> 00:05:15.220 align:middle line:84% all the vatos using words like "ranfla;" 00:05:15.220 --> 00:05:19.120 align:middle line:84% All the vatos who woke up abandoned; all the vatos 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:23.605 align:middle line:84% not afraid of daughters; all the vatos talking to their women; 00:05:23.605 --> 00:05:26.680 align:middle line:84% all the vatos arms around their sisters; 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:30.040 align:middle line:84% all the vatos granting their forgiveness; 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:33.115 align:middle line:84% all the vatos plotting wicked paybacks, 00:05:33.115 --> 00:05:37.750 align:middle line:84% All the vatos sleeping under mota; all the vatos 00:05:37.750 --> 00:05:40.570 align:middle line:84% with tequila visions; all the vatos 00:05:40.570 --> 00:05:45.250 align:middle line:84% they call maricones; all the vatos bleeding in the alley; 00:05:45.250 --> 00:05:48.210 align:middle line:84% all the vatos chased by helicopters; 00:05:48.210 --> 00:05:51.940 align:middle line:84% all the vatos dissed by pinches white boys; 00:05:51.940 --> 00:05:57.010 align:middle line:84% All the vatos bent to pick tomatoes, all the vatos smoked 00:05:57.010 --> 00:06:02.260 align:middle line:84% by Agent Orange; all the vatos brave in deadly classrooms; 00:06:02.260 --> 00:06:04.975 align:middle line:84% all the vatos pacing in the prisons; 00:06:04.975 --> 00:06:08.500 align:middle line:84% all the vatos pierced by needle lightning; 00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:11.905 align:middle line:84% all the vatos who were once our fathers, 00:06:11.905 --> 00:06:16.600 align:middle line:84% All the vatos, even veteranos; all the vatos 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:21.190 align:middle line:84% and their abuelitos; all the vatos proud of tatuajes; 00:06:21.190 --> 00:06:24.700 align:middle line:84% all the vatos carrying a lunch pail; 00:06:24.700 --> 00:06:27.745 align:middle line:84% all of vatos graduating law school; 00:06:27.745 --> 00:06:30.610 align:middle line:84% all the vatos grown up to be curas; 00:06:30.610 --> 00:06:35.410 align:middle line:84% All the vatos who never been to misa; all the vatos, Jimmy, 00:06:35.410 --> 00:06:40.150 align:middle line:84% Spider, Tito; all the vatos can't say shit in English; 00:06:40.150 --> 00:06:43.060 align:middle line:84% all the vatos lost their tongues in Spanish, 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:48.340 align:middle line:84% all the vatos looking at her photo, all the vatos making 00:06:48.340 --> 00:06:53.005 align:middle line:84% love till morning, all the vatos stroking their own hunger; 00:06:53.005 --> 00:06:56.635 align:middle line:84% All the vatos faded clear as windows; 00:06:56.635 --> 00:07:00.280 align:middle line:84% all the vatos needing something better, 00:07:00.280 --> 00:07:06.700 align:middle line:84% all the vatos bold in strange horizons; all the vatos waiting 00:07:06.700 --> 00:07:11.950 align:middle line:84% for tomorrow; all the vatos sure that no one loves them; 00:07:11.950 --> 00:07:16.180 align:middle line:84% all the vatos sure that no one sees them; 00:07:16.180 --> 00:07:20.290 align:middle line:84% all the vatos sure that no one hears them; 00:07:20.290 --> 00:07:25.660 align:middle line:84% All the vatos never in a poem; all the vatos 00:07:25.660 --> 00:07:30.280 align:middle line:84% told they don't belong here; all the vatos, 00:07:30.280 --> 00:07:36.760 align:middle line:84% beautiful young Aztecs; all the vatos, warrior Apaches; 00:07:36.760 --> 00:07:40.360 align:middle line:84% all the vatos, sons of Guadalupe; 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:44.080 align:middle line:84% all the vatos bad as la chingada; 00:07:44.080 --> 00:07:46.690 align:middle line:84% All the vatos call themselves Chicanos; 00:07:46.690 --> 00:07:49.870 align:middle line:84% all the vatos praying for their children; 00:07:49.870 --> 00:07:52.630 align:middle line:84% all the vatos, even all you feos; 00:07:52.630 --> 00:07:57.610 align:middle line:84% all the vatos filled with life eternal, all the vatos sacred 00:07:57.610 --> 00:08:02.590 align:middle line:84% as the sun God; all the vatos, Flaco, Pepe, Gordo; 00:08:02.590 --> 00:08:07.300 align:middle line:84% all the vatos rising from their mothers; all you vatos, 00:08:07.300 --> 00:08:09.892 align:middle line:90% you are not forgotten. 00:08:09.892 --> 00:08:10.864 align:middle line:90% Woo! 00:08:10.864 --> 00:08:14.266 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:08:14.266 --> 00:08:18.640 align:middle line:90% 00:08:18.640 --> 00:08:19.240 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:08:19.240 --> 00:08:22.750 align:middle line:90% 00:08:22.750 --> 00:08:25.300 align:middle line:84% I had an interesting experience, by the way, with that poem. 00:08:25.300 --> 00:08:29.680 align:middle line:84% I read it at a high school, and there were all these rucas, 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:33.309 align:middle line:84% with the hairdo, the exploded hairdo. 00:08:33.309 --> 00:08:36.120 align:middle line:84% And one of them said, so what about la rucas? 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:40.370 align:middle line:84% And I thought, oh, man, what have I done? 00:08:40.370 --> 00:08:42.679 align:middle line:90% I left out the women. 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:45.070 align:middle line:84% So I came up with some typically mexicano 00:08:45.070 --> 00:08:47.615 align:middle line:84% as like the rucas are already poems. 00:08:47.615 --> 00:08:51.793 align:middle line:84% And so they're like, all right, all right, the poet. 00:08:51.793 --> 00:08:53.242 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:08:53.242 --> 00:08:55.660 align:middle line:90% 00:08:55.660 --> 00:08:59.540 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to try to make up to the rucas with my Teresita 00:08:59.540 --> 00:09:00.070 align:middle line:90% book. 00:09:00.070 --> 00:09:02.370 align:middle line:90% I hope that'll do it.