Houston poet Lupe Mendez says, like tequila, we’re all undergoing a long refinement process.
Just like the agave plant is harvested, the juice is extracted, fermented, and distilled over a process of about seven years, he says the human body takes seven years to completely regenerate its cells.
That’s why he titled his new collection of poetry Why I Am Like Tequila.
The collection focuses on the Mexican and Mexican-American experience in Houston, Galveston, the Rio Grande Valley, and in Jalisco Mexico (the region where tequila was born, by the way).
The native of Galveston is an educator and activist and founded Tintero Projects, a workshop series for writers of color in the region.
In the audio above, Mendez tells Houston Matters host Craig Cohen about his work and his new collection.
In 2018, Houston Public Media’s Catherine Lu featured Mendez in her annual April poetry series Voices and Verses: