June 27th 1978, San Salvador, capital of El Salvador (Central America). The first stirrings of a lengthy and bloody civil war were being felt as the so-called Cold War reached its boiling point outside the U.S.A.
Leftist FMLN guerillas were organizing to challenge the right-wing dictatorship of the ARENA party, igniting one of the most brutal conflicts the region has ever known.
Into this political hotbed, a boy who would later renounce his Christian name was then born. Like other Central Americans, Salvadoreans are a Mestizo people who descend from Spanish Conquistadors as well as the Tlaxcaltec tribes that happily helped to overthrow the Aztec Empire. Indeed, the Tlaxcaltec's migration from Mexico over many centuries is why Nahuatl (the imperial Aztec language) is still spoken by some natives so far South.
Itz (Obsidian) Quauhtli (Eagle) had parents who were on either side of the armed struggle and hence fled elsewhere until ending up in North America, where Latinos are the most overlooked and underestimated 'minority' despite being present everywhere.
Having already learnt how to read and write in Spanish, young ItzQuauhtli soon mastered English too. Still, he couldn't help noticing that even though it was his second language, he seemed to have a much better handle on it than the average Anglophone. This simple fact drove Itz to write with increasing grandiloquence, making a game of how impenetrable his writing was becoming to the majority of readers.
Adopting the tenets of Chilean Anti-Poet Nicanor Parra, ItzQuauhtli took things a step further and started developing many as yet undiscovered variations of Poetry, which may remain thus forever (since he also spurns the commercialized spotlight).
If all this sounds like the tooting of one's own horn, then you're probably onto something. Today, for once indulging in poetic prowess, he lays out a list of his favourite soubriquets for himself ...
Chief Without Tribe
Late-Blooming Upstart
Karma's Enforcer
The Most Depressed Optimist
He Who Sings Always
Mr Human Thesaurus
Contradictory Cancerian
Slave To The Music
Him Blessed by Shiva, Beloved of Kali
Ever Moon Thirsty
Destiny's Jester - Outcast On Its Dance Floor
Heretic To All Faiths
Inamorato Incognito
Zavala La Bala
Taco Grande
Dirty D
One Super Paratrooper
A Feline Prince Among Underdogs
Herculean Sisyphus
Balam Quitze (Smiling Jaguar)
ItzQuauhtli (Obsidian Eagle)
Quetzalcoatl's Final Loyal Descendant
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