From the Introduction to Chorizo Tonguefire: The Taco Shop Poets Anthology
"The white bread and peanut butter conspiracy is spreading, but The Taco Shop Poets answer back con salsa, con sabor, con fuerza. They fashion poems from the thngs that happen every day in parks and playgrounds, at cantinas, and coffee shops, at the border and in the barrio. Their words are interlingual, and their worlds are international. At a time when armed guards patrol all borders, The Taco Shop Poets declare the people's right to be other, alternative and inter-connected. They come from communities where Los Bukis and banda are as big as The Beatles, where highly skilled craftsmen spend countless hours transforming cars so that they sit low and go slow, where inpoverished low-wage workers ask themselves in the words of the Chicano punk band Los Illegals 'Este es el precio que pagamos cuando llegamos a este lado?'
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At the end of the century [The Taco Shop Poets] show us the view from the end of the continent and the end of the streetcar line. Their joy, sorrow, self-reflexivity and self-respect tells us much about our present moment, about the things that are dying to be sure, but also about the things that are being born. In the spirit of Pablo Neruda's powerful affirmation, they 'come from the people and sing for them.'" -Goerge Lipsitz, University of California San Diego, 1998
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