Arts Alive San Antonio

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor

Music can be understood by all, and so can dance and even the visual arts, but poetry is a language art. If you don’t understand the language that a poem is written in, the poem cannot speak to you.

Or maybe it can?

A unique poetry-and-performance evening that will take place at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center tonight, will test that idea. Called “A Poetry Declaration and Language Celebration,” the evening will feature nine poets whose native language is not English. They are invited to read in their respective mother tongues, while offering a brief synopsis of the poem’s content in English, if they choose to do so.

The presentation is the idea of San Antonio poet, teacher and community activist, Jennifer Yanez-Alaniz, who enlisted the help of Tino Gallegos, the city’s first official community liaison on immigration. An immigration attorney, Gallegos works with stakeholder groups, nonprofits, interfaith organization – and now with poets – to connect them with resources and the wider community.

However, the poets taking part in the poetry showcase are not recent immigrants and most write in English as well as in their original languages. Most are well-known, especially two poets laureate: Carmen Tafolla (Texas Poet Laurate 2015) and Octavio Quintanilla (San Antonio’s Poet Laureate, 2018-20.)

Part of DreamWeek, the presentation will feature nine poets who hail from four continents – Asia Europe, Latin and North America.

“Our event echoes the values of DreamWeek,” said Yanez-Alaniz. “It’s about human interaction, and it’s about celebrating diversity. It’s about coming together to embrace each other’s ideas. We are inviting and celebrating multiple languages.”

And there will be more languages than poets. For instance, one poet wants to greet all present in five languages, noted Yanes-Alaniz. And, if the emcees are taken into account, no less than twelve tongues may be heard from the stage. Just listening to an unfamiliar tongue is an experience most people seldom have. The individual presentations will vary, with speakers adding visual art to their presentation, or music and song. (Full disclosure: this writer will be one of the presenters.)

Language is a big part of a culture, so speaking several languages opens doors to new cultures and vistas.

“I have been fortunate to spend time in two other countries and I taught school outside of the U.S. I was amazed that most of my students in Bogota, Colombia, spoke a minimum of three languages,” noted Yanes-Alaniz. “And the situation is similar here where I teach adult learners at Northside. My students come from different parts of the world, and at minimum most speak at least two languages. And I have some who speak five.”

Prior to her current job, she worked with Catholic Charities where she started programs similar to tonight’s event. “We organized these kinds of poetry and arts celebrations, especially on World Refugee Day,” she noted. That’s also how she met Gallegos, who was “so approachable and so available,” that she felt comfortable approaching him about this project, as well as two previous events that took place only online. Tonight’s event is both live in-person and virtual. “We are really excited that this event will be safe and in-person,” she said.

The nine participating poets are Lahab Asseff El-Jundi (Syria); Ananda Nadayogi (India); Lopita Nath (India); Octavio Quintanilla (Mexico); Carmen Tafolla (U.S.-born Chicana); Nazli Siddiqui (Pakistan); Haetham Abdul-Razaq (Iraq); Saghar B. Roshan and Jasmina Wellinghoff (Serbia/Yugoslavia).  
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Feb. 17, 6 – 8 p.m.; Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, 1301 Guadalupe St., 78207; 210-271-3151; www.guadalupeculturalarts.org