Las Cruces Public Libraries is one of several recipients of the Latino Poetry – Places We Call Home grant. The project seeks to foster nationwide conversation through a groundbreaking new poetry anthology. The anthology is divided into eight themes: ancestry and identity, voice and resistance, language, first and second homes, family and community, music and performance, labor and eco-consciousness. We invite you to read the poems that reflect the following themes within the anthology and join us for Palabras y Artesanias (Words and Crafts). Each session will be a reflection and creative expression on the poetry’s theme.

Our fourth event is on the theme of First and Second Homes. Many Latino poets have explored what it means to live in the U.S. while retaining, even over many generations, deep connections to an ancestral homeland. How do poets express a sense of displacement and exile? What role do cultural memory and nostalgia play? How do the histories of war, national sovereignty, shifting borders, and the quest for economic security affect how poets understand themselves, their families, and their communities?

PALABRAS/ WORDS

Featured Poems:

“The Floating Island” by Pablo Medina

“Tinta” / “Ink” by Mayra Santos-Febres

“Exiles” by Juan Felipe Herrera

Read an essay by Víctor M. Macías-González

*If you prefer a paper copy of the poems, ask at the reference desk.

ARTESANIAS / CRAFTS 

Mexico represents a melting pot of cultures (many first and second homes)—from Arabic to Italian, Spanish to Chinese, and of course Mexican. Talavera is an ancient art form originating in the city of Talavera de la Reina in Spain, known as “La Ciudad de la Cerámica,” or the “The City of Ceramics.” By virtue of Mexico's tierra, the region of Puebla is rich is soil conducive to pottery making. Crafting is one way in which a second homeland carries the impact of the first and expresses the legacy of colonialism. 

We will provide a clay vessel and teach the techniques and patters common to Talavera painting.

Follow this LINK to see the other themes and crafts in the series. 

This program is presented as part of Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home, a major public humanities initiative taking place across the nation in 2024 and 2025, directed by Library of America and funded with generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Emerson Collective.