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Puerto Rico

An image of a collection of eggs of various sizes.

"Animals of the Past” by Frederic A. Lucas. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Doppelgänger

By Xavier Valcárcel

Xavier Valcárcel considers questions of solitude and care in this dreamlike poem.

Translated from Spanish by Roque Raquel Salas Rivera

Multimedia

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist

The Watchlist: December 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books in translation from Mauritius, Romania, Japan, Spain, Germany, and Puerto Rico.

Etching of The Rape of Caenis from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' by Antonio Tempesta

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951

poets per square foot

By Roque Raquel Salas Rivera

we take to the poem, a miracle with no church, with no witness.

Translated from Spanish by the author

MultimediaMultilingual

A dock extending into the ocean

Photo by Nikita Castro on Unsplash

[The sea swarms. Your shout extends]

By Claudia Becerra

How likable the island when it isn’t / more than a door that opens outward.

Translated from Spanish by Jacqui Cornetta

A burning match against a blue background

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

Embers Fed

By Xavier Valcárcel

My mother and I will burn it all.

Translated from Spanish by Roque Raquel Salas Rivera

Dramatic clouds over a mountain and ocean in Puerto Rico

Photo by Rick Lipsett on Unsplash

Onto Dust We Shall Come

By Manuel Ramos Otero

I return to the world as I depart, / having birthed another phantom, / a dweller of nebulous coasts, / a brief enemy of metaphors.

Translated from Spanish by Cristina Pérez Díaz

Black and white image of Puerto Rico's first openly gay poet Manuel Ramos Otero

Four Puerto Rican Poets Sing of Dust

By Cristina Pérez Díaz

Cristina Pérez Díaz writes about four Puerto Rican poets whose work operates in the constructions of queer bodies and of the nation.

Left, the book cover of Velorio. Right, a portrait of author Xavier Navarro Aquino.

Xavier Navarro Aquino. Photo copyright © Jayleen Santiago Díaz.

Breaking Language Open: Xavier Navarro Aquino on Writing Hurricane Maria in His Debut Novel

By Jacqui Cornetta

A multivoiced narrative was essential for the telling of the storm.

The Queer “I”: The Tenth Queer Issue

By Susan Harris

All the pieces are told in the first person, lending intimacy and immediacy to the events they describe.

Bruises

By Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro

It's not very clear to me if he was asking for help or wanting me to leave them alone.

Translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel