The Times-Picayune
Sunday, April 30, 1995 New Orleans, LA
by David CuthbertPoetic ascetic Armando Ibáñez has learned not to listen to nay-sayers. An English professor once told him to forget about writing. Today, Ibáñez's poetry is winning wide recognition. He was a reporter for eight years on the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, covering everything from community news to political corruption to a gang rape case. But he ignored the advice of reporter friends and went his own way, checking out what he thought was a better job offer - in the priesthood. "God was calling me," he says. "I thought I was an atheist during my college years, but now, looking back, I say I was at war with God. I was really trying to understand My world."
And he never stopped writing poetry, "where God was very much present - not explicitly, but implicitly. It was a current running through my work. I don't think of what I write as religious poetry, but spiritual poetry."
"The tears of crying souls
are flowing
in the body of the earth
in lakes,
rivers
and falls as droplets
of diamonds
to awaiting hands...."Ordained a Dominican priest two years ago 'at the ripe old age of 43," Ibáñez works today as a campus minister at the Tulane University Catholic Center. "I'm the chaplain there, I help celebrate Mass, and the people I work with are wonderful." He's also involved in adult religious education, a Hispanic ministry, a documentary on the Tulane Chapel art- work and interpreting his poetry on video. "I've always hated electronics." He said. "I'm the kind of guy who couldn't hook up a VCR. To me, stuff like that has always been very intimidating. But when I was studying in California, I saw what video can do for Poetry, what the visual element can bring to it. Poetry has always been primarily oral; it's meant to be read, spoken and heard. But I also learned that you can let an image tell a story.
It's being able to interpret visually what your poetic eye has seen.'
Ibáñez has produced several of his poems as video shorts. They combine the beauty of dramatic natural landscapes with tinkling New Age music and Ibáñez's urgently whispered words, sometimes in an English - Spanish combination. "Some call this interchangeable style'Tex-Mex'or 'Spanglish', " Ibáñez said. "Most linguists label it 'code-switching.' Nonetheless, this is the way many Chicanos in south Texas speak. It is a reality. Many years ago, I decided to reflect this reality by composing some of my poetry in 'Tex-Mex.' " In bringing his poetry to video, Ibáñez has sometimes surprised himself with his visual choices, such as a manzanita blossom standing up to the onslaught of a bulldozer in "Mesquites Never Die." WLAE has been running three of these shorts as filler - "a humbling term," Ibáñez says. (This trilogy was funded in part by the Bricker-Booth Foundation of New Orleans.) His work was recently selected for the national screening category at the fourth National Video Poetry Festival in Chicago, the San Francisco Poetry Film-Video Festival and the Chicago Latino Festival, an international event. "But basically, it's a situation of you distribute your work yourself," he, said. "I have friends who teach at the college and high school levels who use my videos as a catalyst for classroom discussions of poetry. I'm also hoping to complete a handbook to accompany the videos as an introduction to poetry and poetic imagery." Joining the ranks of a religious order at a mature age is "a new phenomenon not only in the Catholic Church, but other denominations as well," Ibáñez says. "It's quite a plus, I think. Each person brings his own richness to religious life, but by the time you're in your 30s and 40s, you are also bringing the richness of your profession and life experiences. "I consider myself a late-bloomer in many ways. I knew by the time I was 39 that this was what I wanted, but it was quite a struggle. Finally, I just said, OK, let's take a deep breath and see what happens.' He took a deep breath and smiled. "I'm glad I did."
