Eres un sueño sin fin
You are a never-ending dream
I can’t lose
Nor can I win
Eres un sueño sin fin
You are a never-ending dream
If you were to love me
You still think it would be a sin
Eres mi sueño sin fin
You are my never-ending dream…
-Eva Santiago copyright 2012
I’m back! I have been in a poetic phase these past few weeks. I have several stories swimming around in my head and when I sit down to write, poetry flows forth. I am one of those who does not contend with the muse. Instead, I just let her guide me along. Poetry for me is introspective; often times dealing with deep emotions . So for now, I will share some of the poetry I have been reading at The Poets Unite! Poetry Jam sponsored by The Henderson Poets.
Guess what? The other night I was asked to play the congas during Black Bart‘s Open mic night at The Coffee House! You see, I am rather shy when it comes to playing music in public. I am not sure if it has to do with my uncle making me play the clarinet in the 7th grade; I was so bad at it I could never play it without making it squeak. So during the often dreaded band concerts, I would just hold the instrument to my mouth and act like I was playing. That’s how I got through 🙂 Or maybe I had decided to just play in the privacy of my home because I’m not too sure if I can even play. Whatever the case, I stepped out of that fearful box and I did it. I had a blast too!
So now YOU go on and try that thing you have been so scared to do! Just do it once and see what goes! Whether you do it like a pro or not, who cares! Just do it to say you did. LITS= LIFE IS TOO SHORT 🙂
L.I.T.S. LIFE IS TOO SHORT!
There is no one here
Not one single soul
There is no one there
Who would really care
There is no one close by
To help carry your load
Te tell you it’s fine
When all you want to do is cry
Rush! Rush! Rush!
That’s what goes on
In this life all people do is
Push , push, push
There is no more balance
There is extreme
The pendulum always swinging
And no one cares to dance
No one stops to smell the flowers
Take in a sunset
Not even to hug a small child
And slow down for a while
STOP! LOOK! LISTEN!
You’ll die if you don’t
STOP! LOOK! LISTEN!
You’ll miss it all if you don’t
-EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012
Who wants to enter a contest? 
To win all you need to do is be the first person to answer the question and you win a free copy of Salsa! The Taste of Life. To be qualified to enter, like this page in the link below and write your answer on the comments.
Who said this?”Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.”
Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald
CONGRATULATIONS to this blogger: poemsandponderings Please email me for details! 🙂
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eva-Santiago/142258690307
*Note: If you do not have a Facebook account. Just follow this blog
I participated in this year’s Vegas Valley Book Festival today! My books didn’t come in yet so I didn’t have any to sell at this event. So I had some flyers made up and I went there anyway to enjoy the day, meet new people and get the word out about Salsa! the Taste of Life, my new book. I don’t let anything stop me!
As it turned out, I am glad I went and there was a happy surprise! I was able to read excerpts from Salsa! in front of a captive audience. I love it when things fall together better than when I plan them . I call that serendipity. Here are some pictures from the event. I plan to attend the next one in 2013 and I am sure I will have books to sell then. “When life hands me lemons, I bake a lemon merengue pie!!” -Eva 😀
-Eva Santiago copyright 2012
Last night The Henderson poets met again at the Coffee House; Thanks Don Watkins for giving us a home and what a nice casa! I am sharing some of the poems I read at the poetry jam with you today. Last night we heard from some new voices and that’s what makes hosting a poetry group so exciting. As the adage goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover, because if you do , you’ll never know what you can miss. Poetry opens us up to the souls and hearts of others. When people take the courage to share their own personal work in front of a group, I applaud them because they are putting their lives out there on display; that is not easy to do. I look forward to more poetry jams and I want to tell you that I absolutely LOVE what I do 🙂
I think I may have jinxed the Detroit Tigers 🙂 I wrote this poem on the first day of the World Series, not having any idea that The Giants would take it.
Giants VS Tigers
How can a giant beat out a tiger? Or how can a tiger beat out a giant? That’s easy! They get together and play ball!
1st Inning: The giants fight off the tigers with their baseball bats.
2nd Inning: The tigers maul the umpires over a couple of bad calls.
3rd Inning: The Jolly Green Giant scores a home run on a pitch by Tigger who is busy jumping around as usual.
4th Inning: Tigger shuts out the Jolly Green Giant.
5th Inning: The Jolly Green Giant hit’s a grand slam. The frozen vegetables in the stands go wild!
6th Inning: Tigger holds back the Giants and shuts them down by not giving them any runs, just a single base hit.
7th Inning: The tigers and Giants are tied 4 a piece in this the last game of the world series.
8th Inning: The Jolly green Giant steals 3rd base all to the tiger’s great dismay. Jolly brings it home and now Giants lead Tigers 5-4!!
9th Inning: Tigger throws the last pitch to Jolly who strikes out. Game over the Giants send the streak of tigers streaking down left field! And that’s how the giants beat the tigers!!
-EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012
A long time ago I heard a preacher say that if we don’t share our talents and gifts with the world, we become thieves. We all have great talents. How many people though, never step out and bless the world with their gifts. Our talents are not just for us. They are to help make this life better and more amazing!
Last night I began a new thing; I hosted a poetry jam at my home away from home, The Coffee House. I was a bit anxious about it. I worried because I was afraid no one would come. Boy did I waste my time worrying!! We had 25+ people show up to our first meeting last night!! Their were young poets and poets from all walks of life. This very talented woman shared a piece about her trip to New Orleans and it was so vivid, her words took be back to when I went to that beautiful place in my teens. This other poet a young man, recited a poem he wrote from memory. I admire poets who can get up to the mic and do that without any prior preparation.
There were several writers from my writing group, WRITING ROYALTY in attendance and they shared as well.
And lastly, there was a young woman by the name of Leslie Stein who shared her 365 Soul Notes with us and she inspired me!! I plan to have her as a featured artist soon! This is her picture 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/SoulNotesWithLeslieStein
I broke past the fear and I did something I always wanted to do! The Henderson Poets will meet every Tuesday night at 7pm in The Coffee House located on 117. S. Water Street, Henderson, NV. If you are local, come by and join us! Next Tuesday, Derik Jordan, a local guitar player will be our featured artist. This young man played Walk The Line and he sounded just like Johnny Cash!! Please like our The Henderson Poets Group Page on Facebook!https://www.facebook.com/TheHendersonPoets
-Eva Santiago copyright 2012
My book Salsa! The Taste of Life is ready for you to buy my dear followers! Here is the link
http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781621470090
If you are interested in buying an autographed copy please let me know! Contact me through my Contact Eva page or simply email me!
Broken Window
What does it mean
When I look in your face
And your soul is blank
When I look in your face
And your demons stand as in rank
What does it mean
When I reach out for a hug
You look down at your shoes
And all you do is shrug
I’ll tell you what it means to me:
Stop looking through that old broken window; it’s busted from years of rocks pelting it. First stone you threw, it cracked from top to bottom. It was not a clean break- jagged,taking up the whole window. Then came bigger rocks, chipping away at the surface,until one day a huge boulder came crashing through…such a terrific noise it made! What a great explosion, it took out all the glass. Now what’s left is an empty window pane; the house is debris filled from the winds that blow in from all the four corners. Dust,rain,leaves all blowing in. And this is the window you want me to keep looking through? No thanks, I’ve better things to do.
-EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012
Enrique Iglesias, one of my favorite Latin music artists once explained in an interview that some of his songs are born in Spanish and others in English. I feel the same way when I write my poems Today I wrote this poem and I was tempted to translate it for my English speakers. I refrained because I believe as my daughter Elena once quoted, “Poetry is like love, you don’t have to understand it, to feel it.”
ES TEMPRANO
Aqui estoy arrebatada. 
Me siento inutil,
Y un poco pesada
Me pesa mi alma por que no te tengo.
Me pesa el Corazon por que estas lejos.
Lejos, leeejjjjooos de mi
Tu amada:
La que te ama de verdad.
Sin falsedad.
Que hago?
Nada.
Que pienso?
Nada
Es aun muy temprano.
Eres mi projimo y mi hermano,
Un alguien lindo,
Precioso ser humano.
Simplemente se que te amo.
-EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2012
Simplemente se que te amo.
“What do these famous authors and their novels listed here have in common? Mark Twain– Huckleberry Finn, John Grisham– A Time to Kill, Walt Whitman-Leaves of Grass, Richard Paul Evans– The Christmas Box , Beatrix Potter- Creator of The Peter Rabbit series and Julia Child– the Joy of Cooking. These are among the many famous authors who self-published their works first then went on to become best sellers. These writers never gave up after receiving numerous rejection letters from publishing houses. So they took a stab at it an did it themselves. What followed for them was that once they self published, the publishers took note and picked up their self published work.
A year and a half after my first book, I finished my second manuscript. Salsa! The Taste of Life, is a volume of mostly short stories with some poetry. I was thinking of self publishing again; I seriously had my doubts about sending it anyplace. One of my daughters kept telling me that she thought it was very good and that I ought to send it in to a publisher. I was terrified of those terrible rejection letters so I said no way. But I started looking around on line and I was overwhelmed with the whole process of having to have a literary agent in order to even pitch anything to most major publishers. So I kept looking and then I found Tate Publishing; one of the very few publishers left who still take manuscripts without all the hassle. So I sent them my manuscript and held my breath for several weeks. Six weeks later I received the news of my life: We want to publish Salsa! , the email read. They also informed me that out of hundreds of manuscripts they receive every year, they only publish 4% of those. I had made the cut, I was elated!So what have I learned from self publishing verses traditional publishing? Well for one, I had an editor assigned to help me polish my work and I thoroughly enjoyed it because it helped me see my writing in a new light. I also lost the fear of having my project scrutinized by the editor’s professional eye and realized she was there to help me take my writing to a whole new level. When I self published I had no idea what to do to market my book. Now, I am being trained by Tate Publishing so I can learn how to get my book out there. They invested in me so now they are going to do their best to make sure I do well because if Salsa! Succeeds it’s good news for them.
http://hendersonwritersgroup.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-15th-meeting-notes.html
Eva Santiago 