Called to Rise

When the idea of putting together a collection of voices for the first volume of a youth anthology as part of one of my jobs as the City of McAllen's newly appointed poet laureate I knew it was going to be special. The Rio Grande Valley in south Texas has been in the scope of the whole nation as the border brother to Mexico. The youth of the RGV are a voice like no other. Yes, we have the same hopes and dreams, worries and opportunities, illness and love, but our hope is sometimes a distant aspiration. Nonetheless, we don't think it's unattainable.So we called our youth to rise and tell us in poems; What does it mean to you to RISE? Guess what? They rose to the opportunity to be heard. In this collection of Life, Love, Illness, Politics, and Hope the youth ranging from 3rd to 12th grade wrote from the heart.