"AmeRícan" by Tato Laviera: A Puerto Rican in New York

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. “Nuyorican” poetry
1.1 Tato Laviera

2. Structure and Language
2.1 Structure of the poem
2.2 Structure of the stanzas
2.3 Language

3. Thematic development
3.1 introductory stanzas
3.2 “AmeRícan” stanzas

4. Conclusion

Bibliography

appendix:

Introduction

The poem “AmeRícan” by Tato Laviera is part of the poet’s latest collection published in 1985. This work is, like his previous publications “Enclave” (1981) and “La carreta made a U-turn” (1979) considered as an outstanding example of “Nuyorican” poetry, that is to say poetry written by Puerto Ricans living in New York.

When trying to understand the poem, it is necessary to understand the circumstances in which it was written. Therefore, a description of the artistic and personal environment of Tato Laviera will be given and the Nuyorican movement will be examined. On this basis, the language and structure of the poem will be studied in detail, concentrating on vocabulary, bilingualism, the title and rhythm. In the third part, the themes and topics of the poem will be analysed with the help of Juan Flores’ concept of the “four definitive moments in the awakening of Nuyourican consciousness”^[1]. Finally, all these aspects will be brought together in a conclusion in which the attempt of pinpointing Tato Laviera’s view on Puerto Rico, America and his own identity will be made.

1. “Nuyorican” poetry

During the 1960’s literature written by Puerto Rican immigrants in New York started to become more imaginative, it explored the immigrant experience in depth and the language included many bilinguisms.^[2] This new movement had its roots in a strong political background and was influenced by the black and other civil rights movements. Early Nuyorican writers were often linked to a self-proclaimed revolutionary organization called the ‘Young Lords’ that promoted Puerto Rican rights in social, educational and political matters.^[3] The organization, although of rather militant nature, brought a sense of pride and identity to Puerto Rican immigrants and “channelled their dissatisfaction into a political movement” (Luis, 45).

The poetry that emerged in this time expressed very similar issues to those proclaimed by the political organizations. It came directly from the “barrios”, the ghettos where Puerto Ricans lived and it told of living conditions and experiences in New York. It was poetry written for the majority of the immigrants, it spoke for the whole community and every Puerto Rican immigrant could relate to the marginal and isolated conditions described in the works of Nuyorican poets. As it was poetry coming directly from the streets, the language of the streets – Spanish, English or a mixture of both- was used. The new kind of poetry did not have a certain model; it was quite independent and more influenced by African American poetry in the US than by Spanish American literary currents.

The best way to really get to the heart of Nuyorican poetry is not to read it; it is to hear it recited or even sung by the poet in the Nuyorican Poets Café in the Puerto Rican neighbourhood of New York which was established by Tato Laviera and his fellow poets Algarin, and Pinero.^[4]

Moving away from the strictly political beginnings of the literary movements, Nuyorican poetry became freer of these models. It still portrayed the “New York ghetto world against a mythified view of a inter-racial utopia identified with a liberated Puerto Rico” (Zimmermann, 34) but it became more complex and was finally seen as vanguards literature that “questions, while at the same time accepts, its North American environment” (Luis, 20). Despite accepting America as their new home, Nuyorican poets keep strong emotional ties to Puerto Rico. “En el fondo del nuyorican hay un puertorriqeño” (At the bottom of every Nuyorican there is a Puerto Rican), Laviera proclaims (Flores, 101). This discrepancy of accepting America on the one hand and emotionally sticking to Puerto Rico on the other hand can be understood when Laviera explains that he thinks the island is less Puerto Rican than the “barrio”. Many Puerto Ricans feel that their homeland has been overrun by continental values even more than the community on the island.

Nuyorican poetry is still an important cultural force today; poetry slams are still hold in Puerto Rican communities. The relation between writers on the island and Nuyorican writers proves to be difficult until today. While the immigrant writers in New York appreciate their colleagues back home, Puerto Ricans on the island do not seem to accept Nuyoricans as authentic Puerto Ricans. The writers in New York find themselves alienated both in America and their homeland, their works belong to a “literature operative between two national literatures and marginal in both” (Flores, 152). In the foreword to another collection of poems by Tato Laviera, “La carreta made a U-turn”, it says:

To be Nuyorican is to be universal, is to be existentially wired to men of different colors and tongues the world over: Spanish-speakers, English-Speakers, and peoples anywhere whose existence cannot be categorized or labeled by language, nationality or race […] More than that, to all Americans, that, whether they realize it or not, are living in a mestizo/mulatto civilization that enjoys the cultural heritage of Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. To the great salseros and jazz musicians, who, long before the poets, conjugated the sounds of three continents into the heartbeat of a people.^[5]

1.1 Tato Laviera

In many ways, Tato Laviera is what could be considered as a prototypical Nuyorican poet. He spent his youth in the Lower East Side, called Loisaida by Puerto Rican immigrants, where he moved to in 1960. Like many other Nuyorican writers he had little academic training and all the inspiration to his work came directly from street life and immigrant experience. A black man himself, he felt close to the afro-American community and its literature but also to other minorities like Chicanos. Critics like Juan Flores promoted his work and he later taught creative writing at Rutgers and other universities on the East Coast.

However, unlike most other Nuyorican writers, he was born in Puerto Rico in 1950 and migrated to New York at the age of ten. He knows the feeling of arriving in a foreign country with a foreign language from his own experience. This fact should be kept in mind when analyzing his poem “AmeRícan”.

2. Structure and Language

2.1 Structure of the poem

“AmeRícan” has a very distinctive structure that is visible at first sight. It consists of 15, arguably 16 stanzas. The first three stanzas have the appearance of ordinary quartets; they all start with the same sentence and serve as an introduction of what is to come.^[6] This is strengthened by the use of the colon at the end of the third stanza. The following 12 stanzas all begin with the word “AmeRícan”, also the title of the poem, and a comma. These stanzas differ considerably in length –they consist of two to eleven lines- and the longest one is split into two ‘substanzas’. Each of these “AmeRícan” stanzas is indented to the right of the page, so that “AmeRícan” stands on its own. This powerful device makes the title of the poem truly stand in the centre of attention; it becomes a kind of chorus to the poem and each of the last 12 stanzas provides an explanation for the meaning of what it is like to be “AmeRícan”.

2.2 Structure of the stanzas

However, not only the whole poem has a unique structure, its stanzas have, too. Whereas there is a tendency in the first three stanzas towards full sentences like “we gave birth to a new generation” (lines 1,5,9) or “it includes everything imaginable” (line 6), there is a greater amount of puns and loose associations in the rest of the poem. Examples are “across forth and across back/back across and forth back/forth across and back and forth” (lines 21-23) or “defining myself my own way any way many/ ways…” (lines 36,37). Many enjambments can be found throughout the poem, as for example in “singing to composer pedro flores’ palm/trees…” (lines 13,14), which makes “AmeRícan” seem like a speech that is trying to convince the listener. The sentences that go on in the following line also give a rather restless feel to the poem. Especially the last 12 stanzas come across as a stream of consciousness of the poetic voice, as in “yes, for now, for I love this…” (line 56).

2.3 Language

By analysing the sentence structure within the stanzas it becomes obvious that the language used in the poem is close to the language usually employed in emotional speeches, “AmeRícan” being the ‘catchphrase’ of this speech, as ‘I have a dream’ was the reoccurring catchphrase in Marin Luther King’s speech. The poem is addressed first of all to immigrants who can share the feelings the poem puts into words. It is therefore written in the language of the addressees who are supposed to identify themselves with the poetic voice.

The tone of the poem is nostalgic on the one hand but affirmative on the other hand. The nostalgic side refers to Puerto Rico and is expressed in many adjectives, e.g. “sweet, soft, romantic…”, and nouns such as “danzas, guitar, bolero, love song, palm tree…”. The affirmative notion refers to New York and is expressed by verbs like “define, invest, find, touch, admire…” and adjectives like “proud, American, humane…”. Throughout the poem, three different spheres of vocabulary can be identified: the first sphere is the nostalgic description of the homeland, the second sphere is the affirmation of America and the third is a further-reaching, more universal and religious sphere containing the words “spirit, divinity, peace, civilizations, God, further…”.

The poet occasionally uses the Spanish language to make the poem sound close to how Puerto Rican immigrants talk. Although “spanglish” is mentioned in the poem, it is not actually used. Spanish is mainly used to describe the traditional Puerto Rican culture (“danzas, bolero, jíbaro, plena”). It is also applied to characterise the spanglish small-talk (“que corta”, line 42) . There is only one Spanish word in the poem that does not refer to a dance or tradition or is put into speech marks: “destino” (line 49). This word is very close to the English word ‘destiny’ and therefore understood by every American reader, but it is nonetheless the only Spanish word in the poem and is hence of great importance. The title of the poem, “AmeRícan”, is the only word that is a mix between English and Spanish, however, it is a completely new formation, a pun that is not part of the everyday Spanglish language. This single word carries a lot of the meaning expressed in the poem; it expresses the poet’s view of identity as being a Puerto Rican in the middle of America just as “Rícan” stands in the middle of “AmeRícan”. As Juan Flores puts it: “He is goading the society to come to terms with the “Rícan” in its midst, arguing through puns and ironic challenges that he will not be an American until he can say “Am-e- Rícan” (“I’m a Rícan”) and be proud of it.” (Flores, 194). The poem itself includes a description of what is expressed by the title: “we blend and mix all that is good” (lines 46, 47), just like Laviera mixed “Puerto Rican” and “American” and formed not only his own new word but his own new identity.

“AmeRícan” is a very rhythmic poem. Music is present in the language of the poem, e.g. traditional forms of music like “danza, plena” or “bolero” and the famous Puerto Rican composer of bolero songs Pedro Flores are mentioned. However, not only the vocabulary reflects the musical side of the poem, many of the lines are very rhythmic and could be part of a song or a rap. This effect is achieved by using short words and repetitions, as for example in “we spit out/the poison, we spit out the malice” (lines27,28) or “my own way any way many/ways…”(lines 36/37).

[...]

^[1] Juan Flores, Divided borders: Essays on Puerto Rican Identity, Arte Publico Press, Houston, Texas, 1993, 186.

^[2] Mark Zimmermann, US Latino Literature: an essay and annotated bibliography, MARCH/Abrazo Press, Chicago, 1992, 33.

^[3] William Luis, Dance between two cultures: Latino Caribbean Literature written in the United States, Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville and London, 1997, 43.

^[4] http://www.ncteamericancollection.org/assets/pdf/aaw_poetry_essay.pdf

^[5] Nicolás Kanellos, Foreword, in: Tato Laviera, La carreta made a U-turn, Arte Publico Press, Houston, Texas, 1979.

^[6] A detailed explanation of this introductory function will be given in chapter 3.