September 20, 2017

On September 20, 2017, I began writing this book.

By 7:30 PM, inevitability struck: Hurricane María swept through, destroying everything in its path and leaving 4,645 dead.

Since its release, I have read from this book in public only once.

Poet Sasha Pimentel (For Want of Water: and other poems) considers that "[i]n wrought and buoyant lyric... La Torre Lagares etches the deaths of his own mother and father into a personal and collective account of both suffering and resilience in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane María. The poet draws to light how the United States scrawls ambiguous borders in its troubling relationship with the world's oldest colony."

Master poet Paul Hoover (Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology) also comments that "[w]hen Hurricane María unleashed its devastation onto Puerto Rico, thousands of lives were lost to the storm in what was the island's worst natural disaster on record. With so much of the recovery still underway and the scars still fresh, its citizens continue to contend with the reality that life on the island has fundamentally changed. In his first collection of poems written in English, La Torre Lagares journeys through his memory in an effort to recompose his shattered land. Together, these poems form a poignant, personal account of a man facing the tragic destinies of his family and his country in the aftermath of a natural disaster. For example, the deaths of the mother and the father are resignified as the death of the poet's personal relationship, which at the same time evokes the rupture between individuals and their sense of place. Drawing from both American and Latin American poetry, as well as global influences, to articulate a language of loss and devastation in search of a new identity, this collection illuminates a chaotic and confusing landscape that is not only physical but also cultural, social, and political. Taken together, this work serves as a stirring reminder of the dislocation and fractured attachment that speaks to many Americans, including transnationals and immigrants. Ultimately it speaks tocoping with physical loss and emotional pain in the face of human adversity."

Written in its entirety in English (I don't translate my poems), Wonderful Wasteland helped me deal with what was coming ahead. It made me stronger, too. This Wonderful Wasteland made me better.

The book is available through Amazon.