Celebrating the Anthology: Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home

Melinda Palacio  

National Hispanic Heritage Month continues as the festivities are spread out over September and October. In conjunction with heritage celebration is a national grant to promote a new book: Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home, an anthology from the Library of America. The Santa Barbara Public Library has at least three copies of the anthology. Some of the themes in the Anthology include: Ancestry & Identity, Voice & Resistance, Language, First & Second Homes, Family & Community, Music & Performance, Labor and Eco-consciousness. The anthology, along with the grants offered for promoting the Latino Poetry anthology, has drummed up some exciting events that I hope will continue in years to come. Both Santa Barbara City College and the Santa Barbara Public Library have future programming associated with the Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home Anthology. 

 

Last month, I offered an hour-long poetry and music set for Palabras Vitales: Latiné Poetry Series at Santa Barbara City College. This was a kick off series for the college’s participation in promoting the anthology and the grants celebrating Latino poetry. The anthology’s themes include Voice & Resistance, Home, and Music. I decide to include poems about my own childhood home, especially those that feature my grandmother, as well as poems about children displaced at the border, who do not have a home. Since some of the poems have companion songs, I played a few of the songs on my guitar. I have really enjoyed sharing my poetry and music as part of my laureateship. 

 

Another event that was part of the anthology was a community open mic that I hosted along with the Santa Barbara Public Library and La Casa de la Raza. On September 26, community members were invited to read a poem that speaks to and from our Latino Community, as part of National Hispanic Heritage Month and the Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home Anthology. I asked Sofia De La Cruz to read her poems again because her parents came in late. I think it’s important for young people to be supported by their parents, and everyone enjoyed hearing her powerful poems for a second time. 

 

*an earlier version of this column appeared in the Santa Barbara Independent