Writing about life along the border

Poets of the Rio Grande Valley: First in a Series

Sol Garcia | THE RIDER

As someone who lives near the border, César De León, a writer, believes it is important to represent borderland areas accurately. Through poetry, he provides that authenticity. 

Born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, De León moved to the United States when he was 4 years old. Now, he resides in Harlingen, writing about life along the border. 

“It’s important to document life on the border, coming from somebody that lives on the border,” De León said. “A lot of times, people get the idea of what the border is from the media, and it’s often wrong. It’s often depicted in ways that are not entirely true to the experiences that we have here on the border.” 

While his focus is on the borderland area, De León also writes about other personal topics, including his childhood and “pandemic poems” that he has written in the past year as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. 

“My poetry, lately, probably since I started publishing outside of school publications–they do have a lot to do with life on the border, daily occurrences, personal themes or personal topics, but my poetry is mostly centered along the borderlands,” the 47-year-old said.  

De León has been publishing poetry since 2010 but has been inspired to write poetry since high school. 

“During the high school years, I was influenced by what I was reading, which were the canonical writers, like Emily Dickinson and [Walt] Whitman,” said the poet, who previously was an adjunct lecturer at UTRGV, where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree. “Now, I think my influences are more diverse, and I kind of wish that they had been more diverse to begin with.” 

Now, De León’s works are influenced by such writers as Gloria Anzaldúa, Gwendolyn Brooks, Pat Mora and Lucille Clifton. 

“Those writers began influencing my current writing,” he said. “Also, contemporary poets and local poets are really a great source of inspiration for my writing.” 

In an email to The Rider, De León wrote that some of those local contemporary writers are Jose Antonio Rodriguez, Rodney Gomez, Emmy Perez and Edward Vidaurre. 

De León’s works have been released in various anthologies that focus on borderland themes, immigrant or first-generation voices and more. However, he has never released his own poetry collection–until now. 

Sometime this spring, De León will release “speaking with grackles by soapberry trees” with FlowerSong Press, a local publishing company for borderland authors, founded by UTRGV Associate Professor David Bowles, according to the publisher’s website. 

The collection will include many poems based on his childhood memories, growing up along the border and his recent pandemic poems, and De León is excited to share them with the world. 

“I’m a little nervous, but I’m also excited,” he said. “Now, I can direct people to my poetry by saying, ‘Here’s my collection of poems,’ instead of referring them to a bunch of anthologies,” he said with a laugh. 

De León is also an organizer for the grassroots organization, Poets Against Walls, which aims to “record voices, narratives of the borderlands of the Rio Grande Valley and beyond, also, that are affected by all these divisions that are put upon us,’’ he said.

For De León, poetry is a personal art form, like songs. 

“Poetry can be very personal [and] takes some things, like these really big issues, and condenses them and presents it to us in the form that we can not only understand but also feel,” he said. “Poetry is a song. There’s so many songs that speak to us and touch us, either emotionally or psychologically, and I think poetry does that as well.” 

De León advises aspiring writers to engage and read from diverse authors, including local writers. 

“Due to the pandemic, there aren’t a lot of poetry readings, like live poetry, but once that changes, I would highly recommend for young writers to get connected to other writers locally or find communities online … but definitely read as much as you can,” he said. 

Visit De León’s website to learn more about his previous and upcoming work.