Ocotillo Café: Alberto Alvaro Ríos

Hummingbirds are quarter notes which have left the nest of the flute.

Photos by M. Paganelli

Of Interest

This poem is a form known as a greguería, a one line poem invented by the Spanish writer Ramon Gómez de la Serna. He defined a greguería as metaphor + humor.

Alberto Alvaro Ríos is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Arizona, named by Governor Brewer in 2013. His term has been extended for an additional two years, through 2017. Alberto Alvaro Ríos was born on September 18, 1952, in Nogales, Arizona. He received a BA degree in 1974 and an MFA in creative writing in 1979, both from the University of Arizona. Since 1994 he has been Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University in Tempe, where he has taught since 1982.

Ocotillo Café: Ofelia Zepeda

Moving with songs.
Little wings beating
in my heart.
Ñeñe’i ’an himcud.
’Al ’a’an ’an beteñim
ñ-i:bdag ed

Poem by Ofelia Zepeda from Jewed ‘I-Hoi :: Earth Movements (Kore Press)

Of Interest

A member of the Tohono O’odham (formerly Papago) Nation, Ofelia Zepeda grew up in Stanfield, Arizona. She earned an MA and a PhD in linguistics from the University of Arizona. Zepeda’s poetry touches on linguistics, O’odham traditions, the natural world, and the experience of contemporary O’odham life. Her work is influenced by traditional Papago themes and songs. Zepeda has been a professor of linguistics and director of the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona, as well as director of the American Indian Language Development Institute.