Inspired by one of the few existing treatises on the culture of Nahuatl--the Indian language primarily spoken by the Aztec--Snake Poems, by award-winning poet Francisco X. Alarcon, represents the first time a contemporary writer has returned to the Aztec heritage, empowering himself not only as a translator and commentator but as a medium in the tradition of the poet as a shaman.

The late Francisco X. Alarcón (1954-2016) was an award-winning Chicano poet and educator. He authored fourteen volumes of poetry, published seven books for children through Lee & Low Books, and taught at the University of California, Davis, where he directed the Spanish for Native Speakers Program. He created the Facebook page Poets Responding (to SB 1070) and co-founded Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol / The Writers of the New Sun.

Odilia Galván Rodríguez is a poet, writer, editor, and activist. Her latest book, The Color of Light, is an extensive collection of chronicles and poetry honoring the Mexica (Aztec) and Orisha (Yoruba). She is co-editor, along with Francisco X. Alarcón, of the award-winning anthology Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice. She has worked as the editor for several magazines, most recently at Tricontinental Magazine in Havana, Cuba, and Cloud Women's Quarterly Journal online.