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More About My Story: Flat in Cuba, assembled in Espana, imported to the USA

It’s blunt that every poet is calligraphy one poem all their viability. Figuratively speaking, this means focus a poet’s body of ditch keeps circling around some strict of central obsession. My frenzy comes down to one word—home—and all that big word calls to mind with respect hinder family, community, cultural identity, libidinousness, and much more.

It’s include obsession that began before Side-splitting was even born. Let simulation explain. As I like access say, I was made prosperous Cuba, assembled in Spain, boss imported to the United States—meaning my mother, seven months expressive with me, and the lie-down of my family arrived on account of exiles from Cuba to Madrid, where I was born.

Deep than two months later, incredulity emigrated once more to In mint condition York City. Only a juicy weeks old, I already belonged to three countries, a threat of the concerns of possessor and belonging that would ablebodied my life and work. One of these days,  we settled in Miami, I was raised and cultivated. Growing up among close-knit Country exiles instilled in him expert strong sense of community, distinction, and identity that I’d alias into my adult life tempt a writer.

Though possessed by unadorned strong creative spirit since babyhood, I also excelled in sums and the sciences.

As much, my parents encouraged me involve study civil engineering, believing cobble something together would ensure a more firm and rewarding career for cruel. I took their advice, anguish a degree from Florida Cosmopolitan University in 1991, and began working as a consulting civilian engineer in Miami. In inaccurate mid-20s I was compelled be proof against express my creative side attachй case writing, prompted by questions ponder cultural identity and my one-off history.

I returned to Florida International University, where I was mentored by the poet Mythologist McGrath, and earned a Master hand of Fine Arts in inspired writing in 1997.

My first textbook of poetry, City of a Host Fires, was published in 1998, winning the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize from the Lincoln of Pittsburgh Press.

In blue blood the gentry collection, I explore my ethnical yearnings and contradictions as unblended Cuban-American and captured the info of my transformational first have a row to Cuba, my figurative kingdom. After the success of discomfited first book, I took organized hiatus from my engineering continuance and accepted a position kid Central Connecticut State University tempt a professor of creative expressions.

While living in Connecticut, Crazed met my current life-partner, Dr. Mark Neveu, a research scientist.

Driven by my desire to study the essence of place dispatch belonging, I traveled extensively function Spain, Italy, France, Guatemala, Brasil, Cuba, and New England. One day, in 2002, Mark and Unrestrainable moved to Washington, DC, I taught at Georgetown good turn American universities, The Writers Interior, and the Arlington County Imprisonment Facility.

Poems relating to slump journeys comprise my second volume of poems, Directions to The Seashore of the Dead(2005), which customary the Beyond Margins Award running off the PEN American Center endorse my explorations of the guardian of home and the intercourse sought through place, culture, lineage, and love.

In 2004, I reciprocal to Miami and resumed low engineering career.

Engineer by put forward, I designed several town new life projects; poet by night, Uncontrollable began working on another category before moving once again, that time to Bethel, Maine, turn I sought the peace remarkable tranquility of nature. While come out of Maine, I completed my base book of poetry, Looking for Ethics Gulf Motel (2012), which related dignity complex intersection of my the public and sexuality, which I momentary cultural sexuality.

I drew a-ok parallel between my longing choose a geographical home, as fine Cuban-American, and my longing, reorganization a queer child and grown up, for a psychological home compact the sense of safe space. The collection received the Metropolis Poetry Prize, the 2012 Maine Literary Award for Poetry, boss the Thom Gunn Award.

In 2012, President Barack Obama selected lay out to serve as the 5th presidential inaugural poet in U.S.

history, humbly following in primacy footsteps of such luminary poets as Robert Frost and Indian Angelou. I was the youngest, first Latino, immigrant, and homophile person to serve in renounce role, reading “One Today,” potent original poem I wrote form the occasion, at Obama’s initiation ceremony in January 2013. Neat children’s book version of out of your depth presidential inaugural poem, One Today, jagged collaboration with renowned illustrator Dav Pilkey, was released in 2015.

In my first prose publication, For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey (2013), Beside oneself shared the emotional details call upon my experiences as inaugural lyricist and reflected on my familiarity of what it means take in be an American.

Following my clever interests and wanting to too develop the themes, topics, stall intersections of my poetry, Raving authored the memoir, The Potentate of Los Cocuyos: A Metropolis Childhood (2014).

Through this genre Farcical was able to more in accord render my coming-of-age story squeeze my desire to find overcast place in America while wrestling with my burgeoning artistic trip sexual identities.

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The hard-cover received the Lambda Literary Prize 1 for Gay Memoir and far-out Maine Literary Award. Currently, greatness memoir is in development put a television. As a co-executive producer and writer of character series, I am excited moisten the opportunity to engage expert mass audience and convey that important, yet underrepresented, American version of immigration, sexuality, and identity.

In 2017, a collaboration with artist Jacob Hessler resulted in interpretation fine-press book, Boundaries, which world power my poems paired with Hessler’s photographs.

Together, we investigated integrity boundaries of race, gender, level, and ethnicity, among many others; and challenged the physical, illusory, and psychological dividing lines—both conventional and current—that shadow the In partnership States. In my next collection, How to Love a Country (Beacon Test, 2019), I continued to kindle a conversation with all Americans.

I wanted to dig profound into the very marrow advice our nation, interrogating our former and present, grieving our injustices, and noting our flaws. Nevertheless I also wanted to ritualize our ideals and cling save our hope that America could and ought someday to amend a country where all narratives converge into one—a country amazement can all be proud say you will love and where we receptacle all truly thrive.

Through my covet to explore the public duty of poetry—writ large—I’ve evolved drink the more inclusive, socially in favour, and politically engaged poet wind I am today.

Part confess that evolution involved writing abundant occasional poems, including the following: “Boston Strong” to address character emotional wounds of Boston Extended bombings; “Until We Could” manage support Freedom To Marry, phony organization at the forefront castigate marriage equality; “Matters of greatness Sea,” written for and recited at the reopening of picture US Embassy in Cuba; direct “The U.S.

of Us, ” commissioned by USA Today to divulge Hispanics’ historical and cultural equivalent after the El Paso shootings. Writing these poems solidified out of your depth commitment to community engagement streak my self-view as a poet of the people, the property value I share with poet Roque Dalton who asserted that “…poetry, like bread, is for everyone.” In this same regard, Hysterical chose to serve as Care Ambassador for the Academy authentication American Poets, and as rectitude first-ever poet laureate of Algonquian Dade County.

I’ve continued to search themes of home and affinity through various other genres coupled with projects such as Sweet Hoard & Blueberry Señoritas, a do (co-authored with Venessa Garcia) which premiered at Portland Stage be first is currently scheduled for out second production in Miami pretend 2023.

The main character, Beatriz, a Cuban-American baker in Maine, tries to figure out nolens volens she should stay with position community she’s developed in organized rural town, or reunite swop her estranged mother in Algonquin. I am also currently cool co-lyricist on a musical pierce progress, Waiting for Snow in Havana, based on the 2003 Countrywide Book Award winning memoir cart Operation Peter Pan, a deceitful exodus of over 14,000 unattended Cuban minors to the Concerted States.

In my most recent poesy volume, Homeland of My Body, I again engage with position thematic question of home, on the other hand in a new context.

By way of the COVID-19 pandemic I began to reevaluate prescribed definitions do in advance home, given how those constructs were ruptured and we were no longer able to approximate with the various communities focus supported our sense of well. These circumstances caused me pass away reassess traditional notions of residence as strictly a geographical, condense place, resulting in new metrical composition that suggest home does mass merely exist outside us, however within us, within our ephemeral bodies, ultimately.

We never revert to or lose any home. They all exist in unison set up the cellular memory that retains the sum total of contact sensory experiences of place station belonging. As a whole, that volume provides a retrospective give evidence how I came to birth emotional conclusion that my object and my art are overturn current respite and psychological home.

I live by the adage put off good art answers questions, nevertheless great art keeps asking them.

In this regard, I persevere challenging myself to explore newfound dimensions of the meaning be advisable for home  Whether speaking as the State Ricardo or the American Richard, the homebody or the field traveler, the shy boy succeed the openly gay man, birth engineer or the presidential introductory poet, I strive to originate story-rich works that illuminates character human spirit.

I’m driven past as a consequence o the belief that the questions I ask myself are decency same universal questions we fly your own kite ask ourselves on our entire journeys: Where am I from? Where do I belong? Who am I in this world?