‘Taco Poet’ named as city’s poet laureate

Eduardo “Eddie” Vega, who is known as the Taco Poet, learned a few days before it was announced that he had been named the city’s newest poet laureate, but he had to keep it to himself.

“I’m happy to be able to share it,” said Vega, 48, who teaches theology and speech and is an administrator at Holy Cross. “You feel guilty not telling your friends. My colleagues now know, my alma mater now knows — they posted something. I’m hearing from people, and congratulations are coming from far and wide. That’s all been very affirming.”

Vega’s three-year term begins April 1, the first day of National Poetry Month.

He was selected by a panel of national artists and former poets laureate.

San Antonio became the first major city in Texas to have a poet laureate when it named Carmen Tafolla to the post in 2012.

Vega is the seventh writer to hold the title, following Tafolla, Laurie Ann Guerrero, Jenny Browne, Octavio Quintanilla, Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson and Nephtalí De León.

De León’s term was cut short when he was fired after using a racial slur in a poem posted to his Facebook page.

Vega noted that several of his predecessors are college professors. He is the first high school teacher to take on the role.

One of the things that helped put Vega over the top was his extensive involvement in the community, said Krystal Jones, executive director of the city’s Department of Arts & Culture.

“He’s very involved with so many events,” Jones said. “And just very involved in the community. He’s not someone who stays within the realm of poetry. He embodies the spirit of San Antonio when it comes to collaboration through the arts. We feel and really have seen, since the announcement, so many people in different disciplines celebrating his announcement.”

A public investiture ceremony is slated for 6:15 p.m. April 15 in City Council Chambers.

One of Vega’s goals is to use his new platform to create bigger audiences for poetry.

He’s been trying to expand those audiences on his own through events such as the

Mouth Dakota Poetry Project, a bimonthly open mic for poets at the Dakota East Side Icehouse.

He also has published two collections of his poetry: “Chicharra Chorus” and “Somos Nopales,” which came out in February. And he pulled together “Asina is How We Talk,” a collection featuring works by 25 Tejano poets for which he got a grant from Luminaria.

Vega grew up in McAllen, where he started writing poetry in middle school. He came to San Antonio 30 years ago to study theology at St. Mary’s University.

He got serious about his poetry about 15 years ago.

“I had a mentor, Jesse Cardona, who said, ‘You’re coming with me to this open mic at this bookstore, Imagine Books. Come with me, they’ve got a show and we can read poetry there,’ “he said. “I kept going after that. I couldn’t find enough places to read.”

He has participated in PuroSlam spoken word teams and has traveled to present his work.

Food, including tacos and empanadas, is one of his frequent subjects, which is where the Taco Poet designation comes from. A pinned Tweet on his page on X is a photo of a hand-written poem reading, “Books are just tacos / made of paper-tortillas / filled with words and ideas.”

“I was writing a lot of poems about tacos, but it’s not just tacos, it’s more like taco culture,” he said. “If you’re talking about food, you’re also talking about culture, and you’re talking about history, and you’re talking about sociology and social justice issues. You’re talking about a lot of things when you’re talking about food.”

Vega