AmeRícan

AmeRícan

  • Author: Laviera, Tato
  • Publisher: Arte Público Press
  • ISBN: 9781558853959
  • eISBN Pdf: 9781518501401
  • Place of publication:  Houston , United States
  • Year of publication: 2017
  • Pages: 96

In Tato Laviera’s third collection, poems celebrate the array of stripes and colors making up the American people. In the beginning section, “Ethnic Tributes,” Laviera crafts poems with titles like, “arab,” “black,” “chinese,” “greek,” “jamaican,” “spanish,” and “mundo-world.” In “boricua,” he fashions a timely plea for an end to prejudice, saying that for Puerto Ricans “. . . color is generally color-blind/with us, that’s our contribution, all/ the colors are tied/to our one.”

The latter two sections of the collection, “Values” and “Politics” build on the themes of ethnic exchange and the place of the boriqueño in that greater scheme. In “commonwealth,” Laviera writes of these tensions. “I’m still in the commonwealth/ stage of my life, not knowing/ which ideology to select.”

  • Cover
  • Title page
  • Copyright page
  • Contents
  • "Celebrating Life: The AmeRícan Poet Tato Lavi era," by Wolfgang Binder
  • AmeRícan
  • Ethnic Tributes
    • book
    • intellectual
    • boricua
    • arab
    • black
    • chinese
    • cuban
    • english
    • greek
    • irish
    • italian
    • jamaican
    • japanese
    • jewish
    • russian
    • spanish
    • mundo-world
  • Values
  • I. Pueblo
    • café
    • boyhood
    • negrito
    • abuelito
    • jíbaro
    • ay bendito
    • de pueblo
    • deporte
    • pai
  • II. Nuyoricans
    • three-way warning poem
    • pana
    • graffiters
    • grafiteros
    • nuyorican
    • asimilao
    • criollo story
    • craqueao
    • esquina dude
    • coqueta
    • enchulá
    • m'ija
    • brava
    • boda
    • puertorriqueña
    • chorna
  • III. Rituals
    • thinking
    • talking
    • praying
    • dancing
  • Politics
    • political
    • commonwealth
    • dictador
    • revolutionary
    • popular
    • don luis muñoz marín
    • don luis a. ferré
    • socialista
    • mari bras
    • licenciado don pedro albizu campos
    • AmeRícan

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