Poetry Commons^™

Dedicated to the Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (1914-1953), Sherezada (Chiqui) Vicioso's evocation of New York City conjures up a sensory experience of the bustling metropolis alongside references to its international, and especially Latino, ingredients. Vicioso depicts a city that is infused with but strangely unaware of its Hispanic heritage, which her enumeration of food, music, contraband, Afro-Caribbean spirits, and expatriates calls to the surface. The poem’s minimal punctuation, idiosyncratic line- and word-divisions, wordplay, blend of archaic and current diction, and sporadically disjointed syntax underscore a crowded, onrushing, almost incantatory medley of past and present, local and transnational. …