April is Poetry Month and Fiesta Month in San Antonio, Texas! It is exciting for me to see our city celebrate Poetry and Fiesta. Fiesta honors memory of the heroes of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto.
Both poetry and Fiesta are true loves of mine. Poetry has been in my blood forever. To share poetry is the greatest reward a poet can have. For people to respond to my poetry is the second greatest reward.
That said, Fiesta is in my blood. I am truly a party girl, soul deep! A Fiesta greatest award is celebration because people come together and everything is more about good than bad.
Hence, my blog is about juggling both. So with a fine tooth comb, I carefully select the events I want to attend, to participate in, to enjoy. I try to remain calm, but am really hyper inside. If I get too hyper, I end up scaring my family. So I try to be reasonable and play it cool. This is where the epistemology come in.
After the main events are tagged, secondary events are then labeled. The second condition is time and money. The third factor is the overall picture of what can be accomplished with the other things going on in my calendar and with my family. This method works well until I hit a kink! Then all bets are off and I just want to scream.
So, moving on…I select a poetry event for each week. I select a Fiesta event for every other day. Sometimes, I get lucky and get invited to a poetry or Fiesta event that I had not planned on. Boy, am I happy! Then again, sometimes I don’t get to go because of an unexpected situation. Boy, am I unhappy!
Needless to say, this is the best time of my calendar year. Two celebrations! Poetry is openly respected and people become open to giving it a try or at least listening to it. This time also provides an opportunity to hear well known poets speak their craft and here in San Antonio, all kinds of poetry groups are on the Poetry Citywide Calendar. Listening to different poets and different kinds of poetry brings an energy that is hard to describe and until you experience it ,will you understand.
Fiesta has so many events that I literally have to keep myself focused. For me its like handing a child an open bag of their favorite candy. Each year, the Fiesta Association has added new events that are so different and interesting that they drive me batty because I want to attend them all. Needless to say, control is key! We have three parades, countless festivals, royal pageantry, Kings and Duchesses! We have Fiesta metals to collect and show off and drink and all kinds of food from many ethnicities.
A final treat for me is inspiration that I get just by attending these poetry and Fiesta events. A wonderful, wonderful gift for me.
So if you are ever in San Antonio, Texas during the month of April, make plans to have the time of your life. I promise you will be as happy as confetti falling from the air making you into a colorful rainbow.
-Antonia Murguia
Alamo Area Poets of Texas 