My mother was a great storyteller and a great historian in her own way. She only made it to third grade. She came from Mexico City at the tail end of the Mexican Revolution and that kind of turmoil and chaos and frenzy and also excitement. Juan Felipe Herrera Read Quote
In my writing, I want to address all communities, you know. I’ve spent many years talking about Chicano culture, Chicano history, and at the same time, I’ve also been in many communities and presented my work in many communities, in many classrooms, and that’s where my vision is and my delight is and my heart is. Juan Felipe Herrera Read Quote
The banner of the project is ‘Casa de Colores.’ Under that banner, I’m going to invite people to do a lot of good things. Perhaps working in groups, working on poetry. Juan Felipe Herrera Read Quote
I like marketplaces. I like train stations; I like being in trains. I like airports. I like walking down the street with a pen in my hand, writing, writing, writing. Juan Felipe Herrera Read Quote
I used to stand on the corner in San Diego with poems sticking out of my hip pocket, asking people if there was a place where I could read poems. The audience is half of the poem. Juan Felipe Herrera Read Quote
Poetry, as odd as it is, and as hard to figure out as it is, many times, it’s almost something that we’re used to. It’s kind of like a dream language that we had centuries ago, so that when we speak poetically or write a poem about what’s going on, a real difficult issue that’s facing our communities, people listen. Juan Felipe Herrera Read Quote
We went from crop to crop, field to field. And my father had that army truck, a 1940s army truck from Fort Bliss, El Paso. Juan Felipe Herrera Read Quote
I know I’m representing the Library of Congress, all the people of the United States and, of course, the Latinos and Latinas as well. Juan Felipe Herrera Read Quote
I want our young Latinos and Latinas to write their hearts out and express their hearts out and let us all listen to each other. Juan Felipe Herrera Read Quote
