Letras Latinas at Cave Canem

By Poetry News

Poets Francisco Aragón and Brenda Cárdenas began dialoguing in an airport shuttle on the way to the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, and they haven’t stopped since. In an e-conversation in the Letras Latinas Blog, they debrief their experiences at CantoMundo, a retreat for Latino/a writers, and Cave Canem, a workshop for African-American writers. Both poets discovered safe and welcoming spaces where they could explore not only issues of ethnic and racial identity and the stereotypes about poets of color, but how it feels to connect with people who understand what it means to be a poet, regardless who they are or where they come from.

Here’s an excerpt from their conversation:

Yes, I too found the opening circle at the Cave Canem retreat inspiring because it was so real, so down to earth. The fellows were exuberant even when what they needed to express was difficult or sorrowful because they had dug down so deep to speak honestly and passionately about what it means to be a poet—and a Black poet—in this historical moment. I thought it was quite insightful on Toi Derricotte’s part to ask fellows and teachers alike to talk about who they really were as poets (and what they hoped to gain from the CC retreat) minus their book titles, awards, degrees, teaching positions, etc. And I was struck by the general sense of how isolated poets of color still feel in the U.S. despite all of the “multiculturalism” we’ve been hearing about for the past 30 years or so….

2010-07-30

Posted in Education on Friday, July 30th, 2010 by Poetry News.