Juan of Words

01 November

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De Paisano a Paisano: Una Calavera – Day of The Dead

Posted by Juanofwords in Cositas Latinas

A 2008 Rose Parade float celebrating Mexico's Day of the Dead, built by Tim Estes for Santa Fe Springs, Calif. [Photo by Brent Fultz

So today my good friend Sue Valencia dedicated a special calavera just for me – in return, she asked for nothing more than a calavera in her honor. Now if you’re thinking the more traditional painted-white-artistic-rendering-of-a-skull, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m just not artistically talented in that way. The calavera we’re talking about here is of the other variety: the traditional satirical poems written in Mexico to commemorate the Day of the Dead. These poems are about the living and more often than not describe how the object of the calavera will die. Eerie-sounding I know, but these works of the written word are meant to honor and celebrate the living while poking fun, together, at the inevitable: ¡la muerte! Personally, I’m not that comfortable with the idea of death, and so this humble offering on El Día de los Muertos is more a lighthearted dedicatoria to all who can relate.

I hope you guys enjoy it!

De Paisano a Paisano: Una Calavera

They say we’re the problema. Los burros que no entienden.
They kick us out, and we come right back.
They build a fence; we swim around or underneath it…
Unos nos la brincamos. Otros, we just walk on straight through it.

They say we’re inconvenient.
We say they’re inconsiderate.
They say we’re uneducated.
We say “dame una chanza please!”

Una chanza pa’ demostrarles lo que podemos.
Una chanza pa’ demostrarles que somos luchadores.

We’re not on Main Street or Wall Street.
We’re on streets like Macario García and Cesar Chávez.
Pounding the ground every day, batallando to put food on the table…

Every day!

We’re cooking, cleaning, working outside…
Doing whatever we have to.
Going without, Doing with less.
Making it however we have to.

Un día cuando ya no estemos,
You’re going to look around and miss us.
Los burros that always kept their heads down,
That never said a word.
La burla de todos: El Mentado Sleeping Giant!

Los burros that always said “yes” and never called your bullshit!

Pero ¡ojo!
Los días ya están contados,
And as they say in your americano,
Nothing lasts forever!

Te lo digo de paisano a paisano.

Tags: calavera, calavera poem, day of the dead, day of the dead skull, dia de los muertos, hispanic, immigration, Juan Alanis, Juanofwords, latino, mexico, satire, skull, tradition

9 Responses to “De Paisano a Paisano: Una Calavera – Day of The Dead”

Sue Valencia says:

November 2, 2011 at 9:29 AM

Que increíble Calavera bilingüe Compadre!!! ESO es talento caray! Loved it. Y si, el tema de la muerte puede ser un poco “tenebroso”, pero lo bueno es que tenemos tradiciones que nos ayudan a alivianar el mood un poco, no?
Te mando un abrazote! Y Happy Day of the Dead!

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Juanofwords says:

November 2, 2011 at 9:33 AM

Gracias, Sue! Pa que veas, lol… you inspired me with that dedication. Thanks again! And yes, we Mexicans nos reimos muchas veces para no chillar

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Que Fregados says:

November 2, 2011 at 9:48 AM

Nice job! I was just lamenting in a recent post the loss of our altares exhibit but I should have also stated that the locally (Laredo, not Houston) written calaveras was also scratched off this year . Let’s hope the traditions continue and we don’t Cinco de Mayo-ify Dia de los Muertos.

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Juanofwords says:

November 2, 2011 at 10:08 AM

Unfortunately… it seems that’s where we may be headed, but como dice el Chapulin Colorado… colorin, colorado, este cuento todavia no se ha acabado, or something like that, lol! Thanks for the comment. Very glad you enjoyed this post

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Leslie Limon says:

November 2, 2011 at 10:11 AM

WOW!!! Que talento, compadre! No parece ser tu first attempt at writing a calavera.

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Juanofwords says:

November 2, 2011 at 4:27 PM

It is, Leslie… lol! Pero muchas thanks for the compliment

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Rosa says:

November 2, 2011 at 6:19 PM

Me encanto de 0!isano a 0aisano!!

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Rosa says:

November 2, 2011 at 6:20 PM

Me encanto de Paisano a Paisano!

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- Juanofwords says:
  
  November 2, 2011 at 8:26 PM
  
  Muchas Gracias, Rosa!
  
  Reply