{"id":5525,"date":"2026-08-14T17:56:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T17:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/adventure\/?p=5525"},"modified":"2026-08-14T18:16:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:16:43","slug":"guacamole-sauce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/adventure\/guacamole-sauce\/","title":{"rendered":"Guacamole Sauce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Raoul’s 2 Cents. August 14, 2026<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Original art by Raoul Pascual.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry Night<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I listened to poetry readings at an art gallery in a predominantly Mexican community. It was curiosity that pushed me to attend because I had never been to a poetry session before. However, I didn\u2019t expect to be immersed in so much Mexican culture. I saw a side of Mexican Americans I had never noticed before. Their pride for their humble roots reminded me of the Filipino culture which (like Mexico) was greatly influenced by cruel Spanish colonialism for 300 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The emcee was a tall 300 pounder who announced it was his birthday to the cheers of the crowd: \u201cSince it\u2019s my birthday, I can do anything I want.\u201d<\/em> He wasn\u2019t kidding. He started the ball rolling with 20 minutes of his own poetry \u2026 at least that\u2019s what he called it. In fact, 75% of the evening\u2019s so-called \u201cpoets\u201d put words together that didn\u2019t sound like poetry to my critical mind. They were thought patterns in prose disguised as poetry. Maybe I\u2019m old school but poems (in my book) should rhyme or should follow a certain discipline \u2026 a pattern or a cadence. Edgar Alan Poe, Robert Frost, Shakespeare — their works are poetry. The disciplined 17-syllabled Japanese Haiku is poetry. Even song lyrics can be poetry — just like the works of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Sondheim. Poems should tickle my creativity and make me marvel at the craftsmanship of word combinations. Do you agree? Amateurs should call it \u201cprose\u201d but not \u201cpoetry.\u201d No need to elevate their word collection to what it is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was mostly amateur night for 3 hours. One reader after the other recited their favorite original poems in their vastly different styles and personalities. Quite a few of these “closet writers” never even made eye contact with the audience. You could tell they pushed themselves to go up on stage. I do applaud their determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t a total loss. There were some good presenters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n