Jim Cantú’s project for the 2023 Jack Straw Program is a collection of poems that cover the ignored historical stories of People of Color, Indigenous People, and Latinos. In his conversation with curator Priscilla Long, they talk about how Jim first got interested in studying his indigenous heritage, the way his wife encouraged him to keep writing, and the importance of sharing one’s writing with other people. “My great great grandfather was the County clerk for Cameron County in Texas in the late 1800s, early 1900s. And so we would see ledgers with his hand-writing. And so, it was this sense of a history and a past. And so that really interested me.”

Music by Bryan Smith, produced through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.