Spanglish poetry

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Spanglish poetry

Spanglish Philosophy

“Soy boricua. In spite of my family and in spite of my country—I’m writing the process of the Puerto Rican mind—taking it out of context—as a native and a foreigner—expressing it through Spanish, Spanglish, and English—Independencia, Estado Libre Asociado, and Estadidad—from the position of a nation, a colony, and a state—Wishy, Wishy-Washy, and Washy—not as one political party that is parted into piddly parts and partied out. Todos los partidos están partidos y son unos partidos…” (Giannina Braschi on Spanglish philosophy in United States of Banana)

Spanglish poetry by Giannina Braschi
Giannina Braschi, Spanglish poet and novelist

“Boing! I have always visto a Giannina Braschi como mi heroína. And I’m an adicto…There is something mágico in her juego de palabras, her exploration of tenses, her anxious, uncompromising bilingüismo que ni es de aquí ni es de aquí ni es de allá, ni tiene age ni porvenir, y ser feliz es su color, su identity. Braschi crea una lexicography that is and isn’t atrapada en el presente.”

Ilan Stavans code-switching in thefForeword to the anthology “Poets Philosophers Lovers: On the Writings of Giannina Braschi“

Spanglish fiction and poetry

Looking Back at the Groundbreaking Puerto Rican Spanglish Novel Yo-Yo Boing!

Excerpt of Roland Perez’s essay on the Spanglish novel in Lit Hub

“Yo-Yo Boing! has often been called a translingual text. Daringly written in Spanish, English, a combination of the two, and in Spanglish, critics have focused on the translanguaging aspects of the novel. In their introduction to Yo-Yo Boing! Doris Sommer and Alexandra Vega-Merino write: “Choose and lose is one message in the madness of Giannina Braschi’s Yo-Yo Boing! The book refuses to decide between performing in English and reveling in Spanish.”

Indeed, the book refuses to be territorialized or tied down in any manner. And that means, not just linguistically. It seeks freedom in every sense. Thus, if it begins with an eschatological scene, it is because it seeks freedom from shame and guilt, in a way that many readers find unsettling.

The work is made up of three sections: “Close-Up,” “Blow-Up,” and “Black-Out.” The second section alludes to both the technique of photographic enlargement and to Michelangelo’s Antonioni’s 1966 English language film Blow-Up, where nothing is what it seems. But then, this is no coincidence, for nothing in Braschi’s work is there without a reason, even if it seems otherwise.

The first section, written in Spanish begins with the becoming-animal of an unnamed character who has a trump like an elephant and crawls on all fours like a little girl. The character defecates, scratches herself, removes pieces of skin from her body, and plays with herself. She attempts to bring order to the chaos by applying cosmetics: blush on her cheeks, sherry-colored lipstick on her lips (“wet and ready to kiss a cherry”) and thus she becomes a circus clown. Where is reality? she asks the magic mirror on the wall…” ” (Rolando Perez, LIT HUB).

Poets, Philosophers, Lovers

Nuyorican poets

  • Miguel Algarín
  • Giannina Braschi
  • Urayoán Noel
  • Willie Perdomo
  • Pedro Pietri, poet of Spanglish classic “Puerto Rican Obituary”
  • Miguel Piñero, co-founder of Nuyorican Poets Cafe
  • Edwin Torres

Links to Spanglish poetry and fiction