BIO
Claudia D. Hernández was born and raised in Guatemala. She’s a photographer, poet,translator, and a bilingual educator residing in Los Angeles. She writes short stories, children’s stories, and poetry in Spanish, English, and sometimes weaves in Poqomchiʼ, an indigenous language of her Mayan heritage. Claudia holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.Various online literary journals and anthologies throughout the United States, the UK,Canada, Mexico, and Spain have published her work. She is the founder of the ongoing project: Today’s Revolutionary Women of Color.
Photo credit: Jason Mahlin
Something Wants To Be Born: A Poem
After V. Huidobro’s poem: Someone Was To Be Born
I rode fifty miles today on my bike, from Southeast L.A. to
Belmont Shore. I carried Huidobro’s poems on my back,
the only copy to travel library to library—from South Gate—
my city, to Norwalk—your city. No one usually checks it out,
except for you and I. No one has ever taken it on a bike ride,
except for I—to another city, another county. At the pier,
I rest on a bench next to the men who fish. I read. They fish.
Carefully they adorn their cemented benches with heavy
blankets; fish-buckets half-empty with muted water; and their
plastic containers—bursting with bait. Why don’t they fish where
the fish co-exist? This is shallow water. They need to go where
it’s deep, or somewhere in between, where deep water confronts
shallow water. The fisherman next to me patiently waits. I open
my book to “Alguien iba a nacer” It is here, where I find your
pencil scribbles on the page. The fisherman next to me talks
to his line: “Come to papa!” as he firmly jerks backwards and up.
He reels it in slowly. I turn to the book’s margin and read: “epigraph
for ‘border’ poem”—the title of your last socially conscious poem.
The fisherman next to me pulls in a small fish. He doesn’t bother
to place it in his empty bucket. He unhooks the fish and lets it free.
Armada con Flor y Canto
“Elevo mis cantos, Yo, Macuilxóchitl,
con ellos alegro al dador de la vida,
¡Comience la danza!”
~Princesa Macuilxochitzin
Fuiste Guerrera Águila
en el tiempo de los Aztecas
Tiempos ancestrales que
brillaron con riqueza
Derramaste flor y canto
perfumando tierras secas
Yaciste como jade serpentino
entre plumas de Quetzal turquesa
De tu boca brotó el sol que
cantó la magia de tus llanos
Con tus labios retrataste
las batallas de tu gente
Tu espina se arraigó a la tierra
que te vio bailar el arte de guerrear
Macuilxochitzin~Quinta Flor
Poetisa Guerrera Águila
Macuilxochitzin was the only poetess among Aztec poets who was published for writing a chronicle about the battles of King Axayácatl. She was the only prehistoric woman poet who got published during her time.
“Armada con Flor y Canto” was previously published by La Noria Literary Journal.