Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Poetry!


By Paulette Beete
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Poetry
Click on the title of each poem to read it in full. And visit poets.org(link is external) to browse a much wider selection of poems in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. 
excerpt from poem by Maria Luisa Arroyo
"One day I will write you a letter/ after I have gathered enough words/ that blossom without thorns..."-- from "gathering words"(link is external) by María Luisa Arroyo
excerpt from poem by Ada Limon
"Tell me what it is to be the thing rooted in shadow./ To be the thing not touched by light (no that's not it)/ to not even need the light? I envy; I envy that." -- from "Notes on the Below"(link is external) by Ada Limón
excerpt from poem by Victor Hernandez Cruz
"The campesino takes off his ht--/ As a sign of respect/ toward the fury of the wind..."-- from "Problems with Hurricanes"(link is external) by Victor Hernández Cruz
excerpt from poem by Raquel Salas Rivera
"if i'm going to expore my nationality, i have to be recognizable. this is what everyone knows. in fact, if i'm not recognizable, it's as if i had no nation." -- from "notes on the seasons"(link is external) by Raquel Salas Rivera
excerpt from poem by Urayoan Noel
"please note: each word must be a catacomb,/ must be a sepulcher and must be a/ cradle in some sort of aporía/ where bodies draw on song as guns are drawn..." -- from "No Longer Ode"(link is external) by Urayoán Noel
excerpt from poem by Monica de la Torre
"The translator knows that nothing the poet has ever said or written/ reveals as much about him as the expression on his face when he/ was asked to pose for a picture..." -- from "On Translation"(link is external) by Mónica  de la Torre
excerpt from poem by Alberto Rios
"In that childhood place and border place/ The Fourth of July, like everything else,/ It meant more than just one thing." -- from "Day of the Refugios"(link is external) by Alberto Ríos
excerpt from poem by Cecilia Llompart
"Somewhere there are phantoms having their/own funerals over and over again. The same// scene for centuries. The same moon rolling/down the gutter of the same sky..." -- from "Do Not Speak of the Dead"(link is external) by Cecilia Llompart