http://www.chicagoliteraryhof.org/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=129
Biography
David Hernandez
David Hernandez (May 1, 1946-Feb. 25, 2013)
This city is a neon lady that nurtures quiet or introspective, loud and brassy poets.
Hailed
as the unofficial poet laureate of Chicago, David Hernandez immigrated
with his family from Cidra, Puerto Rican at the age of nine, and soon
after adopted the art form he would pursue his entire life. He said that
his decision to become a poet happened at Robert Morris School, Room
208, when his teacher Miss Greenspan explained that artistic license
gave poets liberties with grammar.
Hernandez published Despertando/Waking Up,
in 1971, at which point he’d already been performing his poetry for
nearly a decade—on street corners and playgrounds as he made rounds
fulfilling his job as community activist. That same year, Hernandez
founded Street Sounds, a collection of musicians and poets taking the
stage at festivals and other venues.
Hernandez turned out a series of poetry collections thereafter--Collected Words for a Dusty Shelf (1973), Satin City Lullaby (1987), Rooftop Piper (1991), Elvis Is Dead but at Least He Isn't Gaining Any Weight (1995). He was also a regular presence in anthologies.
But
reading Hernandez’s poetry was only half an experience. The charisma,
passion and humor he brought to his live performances, both with and
without Street Sounds, elevated the quality of his work. He performed at
Harold Washington's mayoral inauguration in 1987, at Washington's
funeral, and at Chicago's sesquicentennial.
Over
the span of nearly five decades, Hernandez taught poetry workshops at
the Uptown Community Clinic, in the Chicago Public Schools, and through
community arts programs, such as Gallery Humboldt Park.
