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Eddie Vega is a poet, spoken word artist, storyteller, and educator. His poetry has been displayed on VIA Buses, downtown San Antonio buildings, and permanently along San Pedro Creek Cultural Park. His first full-length collection of poetry, Chicharra Chorus, was published in 2019 (FlowerSong Press) and he is the 2021 recipient of the Literary Arts Grant from the Luminaria Artist Foundation. Vega’s newest books, Somos Nopales (FlowerSong Press) will be released in 2024.
As a spoken word artist, Vega has been onstage at several major South Texas Festivals and has opened for Los Lobos, Ozomatli, and other acts.
Vega writes about food, Tejano culture, social justice, and the intersections thereof. Known as the Taco-Poet of Texas, he is the host and organizer of the Mouth Dakota Poetry Project, a biweekly open mic in San Antonio.
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
I write to give voice to the individuals who see themselves as ordinary because of how extraordinary I know they really are. I find my inspiration at bus stops, public parks, taquerias, laundromats, grocery store parking lots and everywhere in between. A poem of mine selected for San Antonio’s Tricentennial is about the paleta-man. My primary audience is the people I’m writing about; my goal is that they can see how beautiful they really are.
“No, I didn't build your new Texas Tundra, pick the lettuce for your salad/lay new asphalt for your ride home, serve sweet tea to sour tourists/or physically defend your freedom
But I stared in the eyes of those who did/honored to walk among the factory workers and farm workers, servants and soldiers/their toil is my strength/their sweat is the ink which flows through my pen/their grunts, groans, and sighs I translate to be their voice
Because I am a poet, I picked up my tools/I went to work today”
-- from "I Went to Work Today" Voces Cosmicas. San Antonio Public Library. 2016.
Representation doesn’t stop at what a person does or what they look like, it’s also about the way in which they communicate. My previous project was collecting poems from south Texans in the language which we speak - spanglish, Tejano, pocho, or whatever other moniker exists for our particular manner of expression.
Ultimately, my work as a poet, storyteller, and educator, is for the community to look back on itself, sharing in the joy of our existence.
Culturally Specific Art Category
Select Culturally Specific Art Category:: Hispanic or Latino/a/x
