Geography (Urvashi Bahuguna

to survive on a tiny island louder than the sun, has empowered our wings beyond Apollo to Bodega…to piragua…to J. Lo…to a cultural mainstream in fear of belonging — and one that is quick to label what we, generational Latinos, are supposed to know — according to the supposed knowers, tu sabe, so that the collective We may understand while the rest remain in a secondary tier of obedience.

Well, I’m here to tell you, my citizens, that art is not about understanding, it’s about feeling. WE are a feeling — Boricua is a feeling — No-ricua is a kneeling, a creative New-ricua. These words even, my own thoughts, continually disobey me — how can I not applaud their stamina, record their genesis, celebrate the mayhem they so clearly desire?

- Edw i n To r res

E dw i n To r res i s a “ N u yo r i ca n ” ( N e w Yo rk- P u e r to Ri ca n ) p o e t. To r res c re a te d a movement which he called “Interactive Eclectrcism”, which combines movement, audience participation, music and songs. He has represented New York in the 1992 National Poetr y Slam, celebrated in Boston, and he has won the Nuyorican Poets Cafe First Annual Prize for Poetry with his poem “Po-Mo Griot”.

Geography

And when you say, I’m going home, You don’t mean a place on a map Although you may think you do, Its really an apparition you seek Of a point in time, a return to loci. Its a resurrection charm In the hope that geography Is dependable. That what you left behind will still be At the exact spot where you last saw it. Its the terror Of not knowing whether the world still waits, Whether when you leave, Someone still saves a place.

- Urvashi Bahuguna, English (2010-13)