One night in April 2018, I was on my way to dinner when an email from poet Lisa Williams landed in my inbox. She announced that she had selected my poetry collection, Wonderful Wasteland and Other Natural Disasters, as the official 2019 University Press of Kentucky selection for the New Voices in Poetry series. While at the time I kept actively publishing in journals, magazines, and literary contests, my last "official" publication was Correr tras el viento, in 2011.
In 2017, I decided to write Wonderful Wasteland out of the pain, grief, and loneliness following Hurricane MarÃa, during which so many people died, including my father. We were without electricity for seven months, and the entire country was in shambles. Each day, I sought refuge with my daughter by my side at a coffee shop in Plaza Las Américas, the only place where electricity was not an issue.
Months later, when the press sent me the jury's award, it was incredibly motivating. For the first time in a long while, I felt I had attained something significant. It was about five pages, and I screened-shot what I consider the most important one to post it here.
Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't.
Puerto Rico is a country of sequestered experiences.
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