On Bad Bunny’s incredible BAILE INoLVIDABLE features spoken word from Puerto Rican multi-hyphenate poet Jacobo Morales. Morales’ books are now nearly impossible to find (our wholesaler was like, “LOL, no”) but gives us a glimmer into the world of Puerto Rico’s sparking poetic legacy, both on the island and extending to New York.
The Nuyorican poets were born out of Puerto Rican migration to NUEVAYoL, roughly in the 1950s. Poetry became a galvanizing form of expression and cultural pride, emanating from New York’s Lower East Side. The Nuyorican Cafe, co-founded by Miguel Algarín, became the epicenter for countless poets… here’s a few.
Empire of Dreams / Giannina Braschi / @gianninabraschipoet
Pedro Pietri: Selected Poetry / Pedro Pietri /
Love Is Hard Work: Memorias de Loisaida/Poems (Original) / Miguel Algarín (1941–2020)
Contemporary Puerto Rican Poets, many highlighting the struggles and complexities of Puerto Rico’s relationship with mainland US, the devastation of Hurricane Maria, and immigration experience. Verse lights up with magical realism, LatinFuturism, Afro-Latin variations and more.
In Inheritance of Drowning by Dorsía Smith Silva / @DSmithSilva
Notes on the Return to the Island by Bonafide Rojas / @bonafideroja
Papi Pichón by Dimitri Reyes / @dimitri__reyes
Hivestruck by Vincent Toro / @toropoet
The contemporary works noted here all appear in an Electric Lit article highlighting poets of thePuerto Rican resistance by Dorsía Smith Silva. The list is well worth exploring. We'd love to include more, but at the time of writing they were sold out. We hope that means more and more people are enjoying this great work!
