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ANNUAL CONTEST OF CALAVERAS 2004

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Annual Contest of Calaveras 2004.

FIRST PLACE. Rafael Chávez.
Calavera to Andrés Manuel López Obrador

La parca con gran colmillo
en un panteón muy lejano
grabó a Ponce y Bejarano
llenándose los bolsillos.

Al darse cuenta del hecho
unos del PAN luego luego
le hablaron al Jefe Diego
para sacarle provecho.

Los mostró en televisión
y se armó el gran sainete;
era un enorme retrete
el Congreso de la Unión.

"A esos ni los conozco",
dijo Andrés Manuel con maña
"Por no ponerse aguzados
me van a arruinar mi campaña"

El peje, con persuasión,
a la prensa le decía
que la muerte era un espía
de Fox y Gobernación.

La muerte se llenó de asco
al oir mentira tal;
Metió a Andrés Manuel a un costal
Y lo sepultó en Tabasco.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT. Stefanie Anne Jones.
Chalk Tears

Chalk forms tears, you know.

When a great deal of writing is erased, like some amount of thoughts,
all at once, the chalk gathers in great drops. They stick for a moment
to the board, and then slide slowly down in fat drips, into eternity.

The blackboard, like a blackhole, swallows them up.

When all the chalk of all the writings on a blackboard builds up,
something great must happen. But sometimes the eraser swipes, left and
right, up and down. The great message of society that was once there
is destroyed.

Like human ashes floating down on the workers of Birkenau;

like the slow killing of the earth;

like the elimination of Muslims in Bosnia.

Like every harsh, grating swipe against humanity and life, the eraser
rises and falls, taking with it some innumerable meaning, some
unmemorable value.

An infinite number of ideas past and yet to come, gone:

That day I saw chalk cry.

We thank everyone who participated and we hope to see you next year!

“Catrina”, José Guadalupe Posada.

The Calaveras (meaning “skulls”) are festive verses in form of epitaphs and are representative of the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico. In them living personages are satirized. The person is presented as dead, disregarding his/her political importance or social status. In these verses it is said how the person died and what his/her afterlife is like. The Calaveras are generally illustrated in a showy way. José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican cartoonist in early 20th century, gave a refreshing approach to the art of creating satirical illustrations, portraying the Mexican society of that time.

These verses are a critique based on the ingenious skills of the author in turn.

EXAMPLES OF CALAVERAS

A CALAVERA FOR DON QUIXOTE

Here rides the cadaver
of Don Quixote the knight,
Ready to take on
any adversary in sight

Neither doctors nor lawyers
Nor priests nor men of letters
Will escape the havoc
He wreaks on his betters

"Calavera of Don Quixote". José Guadalupe Posada.

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