honored by the invite to share at the streets fest in Chicago. Crazy line up of amazing artists, see you there yes!?

reclaimingthelatinatag:

Emmy Award-nominated Liza Garza is a poet, vocalist and songwriter. Infusing the cultural soul of Mexican folk tunes in modern ballads with the intricacy of Hip Hop rhyme schemes, she bridges the ancestral with the modern. With perfomances that include The Lincoln Center, The Apollo, the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture, HBO Def Poetry Jam and numerous stages world wide, diverse people are finding a home in her voice. [x]

Liza is amazing. This Mexican-American Muslim Latina sings about social inequities and structural violence. She has performed with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Amir Sulaiman, Mos Def, and Jill Scott. Garza graduated from the University of Michigan, where she formulated her own degree in Performance Activism. Watch to her perform “My Everything” on HBO Def Poetry. You can also learn more about her here and follow her on tumblr here. 

Oh! And she also makes and sells some seriously cool earrings. 

giving thanks for the beautiful souls at

“reclaimingthelatinatag” 

a blog dedicated to reclaiming the Latina Tag. Because we dont belong to your hypersexualization and fetishization.

now booking my living room tour ep release events! interested in attending or hosting one, send an email with your region to lizalivingroom@gmail.com

cover art for my new ep “swallow the sun” available at www.lizagarza.bandcamp.com come april 26th 2012

photo credit: eli lakes

NEW MUSIC COMING SOON!

“for men who have forgotten how to love.

for women who have chosen to forget.

for children who are witnessing the drought.

for the elders who are weeping.

we have not given up, we have not forfeited, we are not accepting defeat. we have only exhausted every logical solution…that is why it appears as if we have gone mad.”

www.lizagarza.com

i was scared to mourn out loud and for such a  long period of time
so i would write pieces of my longing
inside short and random text messages
or brief emails
or in glances held just a bit too long
or in long hugs to strangers
knowing i would never see them again
i would disperse my cry for help in sonnets
that i never shared
tears camouflaged by the beauty of the moon

she is sensitive
and emotional
and passionate
and present
but all the while i was just grieving.

when he notices the moon

and mentions god,

I blush and discover more ways

to love him.

i hide, only because i want to be found. 

if i didnt, i would just leave.

poems own me more than i own them.

they have a life of their own

they dont like to be tamed

or told when to come forth

or when to fall back

they are possesive

yet distant

but always lovely

the most sincere ones always show themselves when i fully submit

time like these

everyone is exposed

myself of course, and anyone who may have added any joy or pain to my life

this is the cost of loving a poet

or being loved by a poet

you will be the inspiration and lack of inspiration at all times

but poets need love too

and space

but mostly god.

for men who have forgotten how to love.

for women who have chosen to forget.

for children who are witnessing the drought.

for the elders who are weeping.

we have not given up, we have not forfeited, we are not accepting defeat. we have only exhausted every logical solution…that is why it appears as if we have gone mad.

the only true satisfaction
is in the remembrance of God
and your presence
was fooling both of us
into believing that we
could be this magical
without God

i have a league of poems that are willing to fight for you

a myriad of sonnets ready to wage war on your behalf

strong and valiant and courageous

they form a front line

that is impossible to defeat

they find pride in becoming martyrs for a cause so worthy

a ransom so wonderful

they abandon their armor to taste the truth of love.

their only weapon, their nakedness, their fearlessness

their consistency.

yet how is it, that it is never quite enough to claim victory?

covered my favorite portishead song. my son shoot the video. shout out to dominic on percussion. enjoy!