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Young poet Javier Zamora was a special guest on the April 15, 2012 Poetry Show, hosted by Dennis Morton. Born in El Salvador, Javier came to this country at age nine. Much of the inspiration for his poetry comes from his childhood experiences in El Salvador and the perilous journey of a nine-year-old to join his parents in California.
Javier credits past Poetry Show guest Rebecca Foust with recognizing his talent and stirring his interest in poetry, when he was a high school senior in Marin County. That talent and interest have already taken him far: Javier graduates this year from UC Berkeley and won a post-graduate scholarship to the MFA program at NYU.
Closer to home, two of Javier’s poems were featured in the “Poetry Corner” feature in the April 10 issue of Santa Cruz Good Times.
Although still only 22, Javier recently saw the publication of his first poetry chapbook, titled Nueve Años Inmigrantes (Nine Immigrant Years). Javier’s poetry won an open chapbook competition sponsored by the publisher, Organic Weapon Arts.
Note about the podcast: because of the way KUSP’s recording system works, the last stanza of Javier’s last poem got cut off. We apologize to Javier and our listeners, and promise to print the missing stanza (or maybe the entire poem) as soon as we can get it.
Update: May 3 – Javier was kind enough to send the text of the missing final stanza:
“Footprints, do you hear the helicopters? Border, I like it when you look at me and I’m hiding in bushes and you’re so far.”
