Overview

Carlos Cortéz Koyokuikatl was an artist, poet, photographer, muralist, columnist, labor and anti-war activist. His contributions as a visual artist are found in linoleum and wood printing block posters as well as his scratchboard images are part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. Many of his drawings also appeared in the Industrial Workers of the World monthly newspaper and in books such as Pablo Cruz & the American Dream, Cold Chicago: Play, and in his own books, De Kansas a Califas & Back to Chicago, Crystal-Gazing the Amber Fluid & other Wobbly poems, and Where Are Voices? The poems included in this collection reach from the late 1950's to 2000, reflecting his abilities in American Haiku, epic accounts, elegiac reflections, protest poems, love poems, and satirical pieces. He worked mainly in English but there's evidence of his own Spanish-language skills. Cortéz also explored the traditional Mexican language Nahuatl in his later years which are also included in this collection. His artwork is held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Smithsonian and galleries in the USA and Europe. The name Koyokuikatl meaning ""coyote's song"" in Nahuatl first came to him while he was serving his 18-months sentence as a World War 2 conscientious objector and only ceremoniously adopted in 1982 in a Mexica ritual. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 13, 1923, and passed away from natural causes at home in Chicago on January 19, 2005.

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"How fortunate for Chicago that Carlos Cortéz (1923-2005), born in Milwaukee to a German immigrant activist and a Mexican-Nahuatl father, decided to live, work, and die here. How fortunate for Cortéz that his parents, both workers and both political activists from the socialist and anarchist movements, always found the money for notebooks and art supplies and encouraged his creative work. Following in their footsteps he left a huge legacy as a labor organizer, political activist, cultural innovator, visual and word artist. His wood and linoleum prints are in the permanent collections of museums such as, the National Museum of Mexican Art, MoMA, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Smithsonian. The murals in Pilsen owe their existence to artists like Cortéz who wanted to display their indigenous and Latinx identity on the skin of their buildings. He was here to protest the deep communal wound inflicted upon the immigrant neighborhoods and Black communities when the Congress Expressway slashed its way through the city's west side. Urban renewal and the University of Illinois Chicago campus further displaced the working poor and middle-class immigrants of that area. The poetry of Carlos Cortéz, however, has not been as widely divulgated. Coyote's Song, represents a significant achievement and something that poetry and art lovers will want to add to their collections. And how fortunate that current Chicago artists and activists have collaborated to curate and comment on his life and work. Poet Carlos Cumpián, artist Rene Arceo, labor organizer and former academic, David Ranney, and Fred Sasaki, Creative Director at the Poetry Foundation, have created a handsome book that the late Cortéz would have endorsed. He left his linoleum and wooden blocks to museums with the proviso that the price of prints should always be affordable for working class people. The other strong influence in his work is his love of language. He spoke German and Spanish from with his mother and father. A Nahuatl spiritual leader gave him the name Koyokokuitl which means Coyote Song. In ""Empty House Blues"" his dogs (izkuintlis) are his loyal companions: ""Yo sé que los izkuintlis keep me company/But they lack that certain algo."" His ""Macuilhaicuh (Cinco Haiku Chicanos) are in Spanish and since they were not translated, I'll try my hand at one: ¡Órale chapulínCántame más¡Y deja mi lechuga! Hey now grasshopper!Sing for me moreAnd leave my lettuce alone!"

"How fortunate for Chicago that Carlos Cort�z (1923-2005), born in Milwaukee to a German immigrant activist and a Mexican-Nahuatl father, decided to live, work, and die here. How fortunate for Cort�z that his parents, both workers and both political activists from the socialist and anarchist movements, always found the money for notebooks and art supplies and encouraged his creative work. Following in their footsteps he left a huge legacy as a labor organizer, political activist, cultural innovator, visual and word artist. His wood and linoleum prints are in the permanent collections of museums such as, the National Museum of Mexican Art, MoMA, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Smithsonian. The murals in Pilsen owe their existence to artists like Cort�z who wanted to display their indigenous and Latinx identity on the skin of their buildings. He was here to protest the deep communal wound inflicted upon the immigrant neighborhoods and Black communities when the Congress Expressway slashed its way through the city's west side. Urban renewal and the University of Illinois Chicago campus further displaced the working poor and middle-class immigrants of that area. The poetry of Carlos Cort�z, however, has not been as widely divulgated. Coyote's Song, represents a significant achievement and something that poetry and art lovers will want to add to their collections. And how fortunate that current Chicago artists and activists have collaborated to curate and comment on his life and work. Poet Carlos Cumpi�n, artist Rene Arceo, labor organizer and former academic, David Ranney, and Fred Sasaki, Creative Director at the Poetry Foundation, have created a handsome book that the late Cort�z would have endorsed. He left his linoleum and wooden blocks to museums with the proviso that the price of prints should always be affordable for working class people. The other strong influence in his work is his love of language. He spoke German and Spanish from with his mother and father. A Nahuatl spiritual leader gave him the name Koyokokuitl which means Coyote Song. In ""Empty House Blues"" his dogs (izkuintlis) are his loyal companions: ""Yo s� que los izkuintlis keep me company/But they lack that certain algo."" His ""Macuilhaicuh (Cinco Haiku Chicanos) are in Spanish and since they were not translated, I'll try my hand at one: ��rale chapul�nC�ntame m�s�Y deja mi lechuga! Hey now grasshopper!Sing for me moreAnd leave my lettuce alone!"

Author Information

Carlos Cumpián a Chicagoan originally from Texas. In 2000, he was recognized with a Gwendolyn Brooks Significant Illinois Poet Award. He is a member of Macondo literary organization, and a board member of an educational non-profit California-based organization MeXicanos2070; Cumpián is also the co-founder of March/Abrazo Press, the first Chicana, Indigenous and Latino/a/x small press in Illinois which was established in 1982. Cumpián has been included in more than thirty poetry anthologies, including the Norton Anthology Telling Stories. Before becoming a teacher, he worked with various social service organizations such as ASPIRA and public relations for the Chicago Public Library. Cumpián has taught creative writing and poetry through community arts organizations including the National Museum of Mexican Art, Urban Gateways and as a writer-in residence funded by the Illinois Arts Council. Cumpián taught in the English Department of Columbia College Chicago and in the Chicago Public School and Charter school system. Professor Emeritus in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois Chicago. He received his BA degree at Dartmouth College and his PhD at Syracuse University. Professor Ranney has also been a factory worker, a labor and community organizer and an activist academic. He is married and has a son, daughter-in law, and two granddaughters. He splits his time between Chicago and Washington Island, Wisconsin. Creative Director and exhibition co-curator for Poetry Magazine Poetry Foundation

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