> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # One Poem by José Olivarez - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/one-poem-by-jose-olivarez/ - Published: 2017-09-13T11:00:37.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T16:40:49.000Z - Description: Our poetry editor, Wendy Xu, has selected one poem by José Olivarez for her monthly series that brings original poetry to the screens of Hyperallergic readers. - Author: Wendy Xu - Tags: Poetry, Hyperallergic Poetry, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:30(2016, 2017, part 3) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/09/cruzvillegas-icharhuta-2017.jpg) Abraham Cruzvillegas, “Ichárhuta” (2017), Mixografia® print on handmade paper and archival pigment printEdition of 49, 12.75 X 7.5 inches (image courtesy MIXOGRAFIA® and the artist) ## Mexican American Disambiguation *after Idris Goodwin* my parents are Mexican who are not to be confused with Mexican-Americans or Chicanos. i am a Chicano from Chicago which means i am a Mexican-American with a fancy college degree & a few tattoos. my parents are Mexican who are not to be confused with Mexicans still living in México. those Mexicans call themselves Mexicanos. white folks at parties call them pobrecitos. American colleges call them international students & diverse. my mom was white in México & my dad was mestizo & after they crossed the border they became diverse. & minorities. & ethnic. & exotic. but my parents call themselves Mexicanos, who, again, should not be confused for Mexicanos living in México. those Mexicanos might call my family gringos, which is the word my family calls white folks & white folks call my parents interracial. colleges say put them on a brochure. my parents say que significa esa palabra. i point out that all the men in my family marry lighter skinned women. that’s the Chicano in me. which means it’s the fancy college degrees in me, which is also diverse of me. everything in me is diverse even when i eat American foods like hamburgers, which to clarify, are American when a white person eats them & diverse when my family eats them. so much of America can be understood like this. my parents were undocumented when they came to this country & by undocumented, i mean sin papeles, & by sin papeles, i mean royally fucked which should not be confused with the American Dream though the two are cousins. colleges are not looking for undocumented diversity. my dad became a citizen which should not be confused with keys to the house. we were safe from deportation, which should not be confused with walking the plank. though they’re cousins. i call that sociology, but that’s just the Chicano in me who should not be confused with the diversity in me or the Mexicano in me who is constantly fighting with the upwardly mobile in me who is good friends with the Mexican-American in me who the colleges love, but only on brochures, who the government calls NON-WHITE, HISPANIC or WHITE, HISPANIC, who my parents call mijo even when i don’t come home so much. \* \* \* José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants, the co-author of the book of poems Home Court, and the co-host of the poetry podcast, [The Poetry Gods](https://soundcloud.com/thepoetrygods?ref=hyperallergic.com). He is a graduate of Harvard University and the Marketing Manager at Young Chicago Authors. A winner of a 2016 Poets House Emerging Poet Fellowship and a 2015 Bronx Recognizes Its Own award from the Bronx Council on the Arts, his work has been published in the BreakBeat Poets, Vinyl Poetry and Prose, the Chicago Tribune, and Brooklyn Magazine, among other places. He is from Calumet City, IL, and lives in Chicago. *Readers are encouraged to submit 3–5 poems as a PDF to Wendy Xu for consideration at* [*poetry@hyperallergic.com.*](mailto:poetry@hyperallergic.com)