A Lesson in Puerto Rican Poetry

A few weeks ago I brought Roberto Marquez’s anthology, Puerto Rican Poetry, to my afternoon writing class. All of the students are from Puerto Rico, or their parents are. When I held up heavy, 490  page tome, one student said, “I never knew there was any such thing.”
“Any such thing as what?” I asked. [...]

La Cucaracha

Growing up as a budding young writer, it seemed anytime something difficult would happen to me my mother would say, “Look at the bright side, at least you’ll get a good poem out of it.” Granted, when I was crying my eyes out over my latest heartbreak, those words could be cold comfort. But of [...]