Richard Blanco - Author and Poet

Richard Blanco

“An engineer, poet, Cuban American… his poetry bridges cultures and languages – a mosaic of our past, our present, and our future – reflecting a nation that is hectic, colorful, and still becoming.”

– President Joe Biden, conferring the National Humanities Medal on Richard Blanco

Homeland of My Body by poet & author, Richard Blanco

Homeland Of My Body: New & Selected Poems

Beacon Press, Release date: October 24, 2023.

A rich, accomplished, intensely intimate collection with two full sections of new poems bookending Blanco’s selections from his five previous volumes.

In this collection of over 100 poems, Richard Blanco has carefully selected poems from his previous books that represent his evolution as a writer grappling with his identity, working to find and define “home,” and bookended them with new poems that address those issues from a fresh, more mature perspective, allowing him to approach surrendering the pain and urgency of his past explorations. Pausing at this pivotal moment in mid-career, Blanco reexamines his life-long quest to find his proverbial home and all that it encompasses: love, family, identity and ultimately art itself. In the closing section of the volume, he has come to understand and internalize the idea that “home” is not one place, not one thing, and lives both inside him and inside his art.

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April 13, 2024

San Antonio Book Festival
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May 18, 2024
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June 6, 2024

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June 24-28, 2024

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Rockport, M.A.
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Latest News

Village Voice: Poet Richard Blanco Spotlights *Glitter Road* by January Gill O’Neil

Village Voice: Poet Richard Blanco Spotlights *Glitter Road* by January Gill O’Neil

Poet Richard Blanco returns to Boston Public Radio for an episode of the “Village Voice,” to celebrate poet January Gill O’Neil’s latest collection Glitter Road, and to retroactively honor Black History Month, and Women’s History Month. 

O’Neil is a professor at Salem State University and the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. Her latest collection reflects on “Marriage, loss, and a new relationship, with the backdrop of a Mississippi season. She explores the legacy of Emmitt Till and how his legacy is braided with hers; how race blights us all.” Said Blanco.

He begins with a poem of empowerment, “WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?” 

“Poetry is everywhere, you just have to look for it,” said Blanco when referring to Tina Turner’s song lyric as the poem’s title. He goes on to read “AFTER DAUNTE WRIGHT’S MURDER, I TEACH A POETRY CLASS TO HIGH SCHOOL SCHOOLERS ON ZOOM” and “BLACK WOMEN.” 

Tune in to enjoy the poems as they are read and discussed.  

“WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT”

And when Tina sings I’ve been taking on
a new direction directly to camera,
defiant, her lips glazed a tumultuous red,
she takes her hand and adjusts her
honey brown bangs out of her eyes
then continues singing about her own
protection. That MTV moment—Tina
in a denim jacket and leather skirt,
her million-dollar legs in black-seamed hose
wearing fuck-Ike-this-is-my-video heels,
a long way from “Nutbush City Blues”—
indelible on my 15-year-old psyche
when I had no idea what love had to do
with anything—but I understood it was work,
even painful, watching my parents argue
and stay together, years later arguing with my ex
and not staying together. It’s only now
into my half-life I can speak of that sweeping
gesture, how the imperfectness of the moment
stayed with me all these years, not as a gaffe
or faux pas for the cutting room floor,
but from a woman in full command of her power,
flaws and all, Tina’s hand gliding like the phases
of the moon, that love could be second hand,
given to pleasure, the rough music
that remains after the light passes through us
because who needs a heart when a heart
can be broken.

“AFTER DAUNTE WRIGHT’S MURDER, I TEACH A POETRY CLASS TO HIGH SCHOOL SCHOOLERS ON ZOOM” and “BLACK WOMEN” can be found in Glitter Road. (CavanKerry Press. Feb, 2024).

This episode of “Village Voice” first aired on Boston Public Radio on March 4th, 2024.

Village Voice: Richard Blanco On His New Book, ‘Homeland of My Body: New & Selected Poems’

Village Voice: Richard Blanco On His New Book, ‘Homeland of My Body: New & Selected Poems’

Richard Blanco joins Jim and Margery on Boston Public Radio to reflect on his most recent collection: Homeland of My Body: New and Selected Poems. He reads a selection of new works and shares thoughts on the inspiration that kindled them, as well as the creative journey that led him to this mid-career collection.

“The new poems are, in a sense, a letting go of things…the ego-driven idea of finding home, all the homes I’ve had that still live in me.”

The final poem he read, “Become Me” is dedicated to his husband, Mark, as is the book as a whole.

Enjoy the poems as they are read and discussed. 

read more…

Village Voice: Poet Richard Blanco Explores AI-Generated Poetry

Village Voice: Poet Richard Blanco Explores AI-Generated Poetry

In this latest episode of Village Voice, Poet Richard Blanco joins Jim and Margery on Boston Public Radio to explore A-I-generated poetry.

“I was going to choose Halloween poems, but I think this topic is even scarier.” He said.

Blanco asked Chat GBT to generate two poems. One, in the style of his own voice, after his poem “Palmita Mia” which translates to “Little Palm of Mine.” (From City of a Hundred Fires.) For the second, he asked it to write a poem in the style of “How to Triumph like a Girl” (from Bright Dead Things) by Ada Limón.

read more…

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