Richard Blanco continues the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month in this latest edition of “Village Voice.” From the living cultures of bodegas, to Spider-Man in Times Square, to coming of age in a Mexican family, these poems highlight the nuances of what it means to be Hispanic, a hyphenated-American.

Tune in for the conversation and read along with the poems listed below. read more…

In this episode of “Village Voice,” Boston Public Radio and Richard Blanco share poems to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month. From “Florida-grown mameyes” that are a shadow of the Cuban mamey, to grandmothers returning lost countries and cultures to the homelands of memory, as first-generation poets could have written it.

Tune in for the conversation and read along with the poems listed below. read more…

Richard Blanco shares selected quotes, emblematic of what poetry means, in this latest edition of “Village Voice.” Tune in to hear the conversation sparked by each.

“Good poetry answers questions great poetry asks them.”
Richard Blanco read more…

On the latest segment of Village Voice, using poetry to better understand our lives and times, Richard Blanco highlights satirical poetry by John Lithgow. Blanco and Lithgow were the two poets in attendance at this year’s Sun Valley Writers’ Conference.

“These poems, while they’re satirical and fun, they’re also very accomplished…masterful use of rhyme and meter…People often feel that rhyme for rhyme’s sake makes a poem, but it’s really what rhymes that makes a poem interesting.” read more…

In this episode of “Village Voice,” Jim and Margery discuss the historic protests in Cuba with poet Richard Blanco.

The discussion centers on the complexities of the Cuban saga. read more…

Richard Blanco joins Jim and Margery on Boston Public Radio for another segment of “Village Voice” with reflections on the craft of the letter poem.

“When you write directly to someone, the second person “you” feels very intimate and the reader feels like they’re overhearing this wonderful moment… It’s a great way to frame a poem. You get that direct connection.” read more…

In the latest edition of “Village Voice,” Jim Braude and Margery Eagan celebrate Pride Month with poet Richard Blanco.

Blanco shared two of his own poems “ONE PULSE-ONE POEM” and “UNTIL WE COULD.”

In “ONE PULSE-ONE POEM” Blanco chronicles his creative process and the imperative need to write about the Pulse massacre as a way to make sense of the world, to heal and connect. read more…

Ahead of Memorial Day, poet Richard Blanco shared poems by veterans. “[Let’s] take a look at war from their perspective. I think it’s a perspective that’s sometimes missing from the general consciousness,” he said.

Blanco read “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa. Written in response to visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the poem discusses racism, loss, the consequences of war. Richard said how thanking someone for their service could never capture the depth and complexity of what it means to serve. “Here’s your service in these lines: it’s pain, it’s grit, it’s love, it’s so many things.” read more…

On the latest episode of “Village Voice,” poet Richard Blanco offers a preview of his poetry class for the Writers Harbor Poetry Week at Maine Media Workshops and College, which will focus on using photographs to generate poems.

“We think photographically; memories are photographic…photos are doorways into imagination. I’ll ask participants to bring photos that have mystique or intrigue, and to let the poem discover what it means…let the imagination open up to the past. We’ll also take photographs and then write a poem based on the photo we just took. The idea is to look at the world as a poem. We have to frame certain things, what are we choosing to focus on? What’s beyond the frame?” read more…