BORICUAS INFLUENTIAL PUERTO RICAN WRITINGS AN ANTHOLOGY EDITED BY ROBERTO SANTIAGO SUB GOttlngen 206112 947 97A297I ONE WO RLD BALLANTINE BOOKS • NEW YORK CONTENTS Introduction xili Acknowledgments xxxiv PROLOGUE: CATHARSIS "... that reality.. ./teaches me to see, and will/bring me back to me." —FROM HERE BY SANDRA MARIA ESTEVES Sandra Maria Esteves Here 3 PARTI: PRIDE "Do as the bull in the face of adversity: charge...." —FROM TO THE PERSECUTED BY JOSfi DE DIEGO Jose de Diego To the Persecuted 7 Martita Morales The Sounds of Sixth Street 8 Jose Torres A Letter to a Child Like Me 11 vu v'tii • Contents PART 2: HISTORY AND POLITICS "Ipray to the rain .. ./Return the remnants of my identity/Bathe me in self-discovered knowledge...." —FROM IT IS RAINING TODAY BY SANDRA MARIA ESTEVES Sandra Maria Esteves It Is Raining Today , 19 Jesus Colon How to Know the Puerto Ricans 20 Esmeralda Santiago \ Island of Lost Causes 22 Jose de Diego Hallelujahs 25 Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican Nationalism 27 Luis Munoz Marin On Recent Disturbances in Puerto Rico 29 Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. The Boy Without a Flag 30 Julia de Burgos Mighty River of Loiza 46 Jose Luis Gonzalez The "Lamento Borincano" 48 Pablo Guzman The Party (FROM PALANTE! YOUNG LORDS PARTY) 52 Ronald Fernandez Los Macheteros 60 Rosario Morales Double Allegiance 74 CONTENTS • ix PART 3: IDENTITY AND SELF-ESTEEM "I am new. History made me.. ./I was born at the crossroads/and I am whole." —FROM CHILD OF THE AMERICAS BY AURORA LEVINS MORALES Aurora Levins Morales Child of the Americas 79 Julia de Burgos Ay Ay Ay for the Kinky Black Woman 80 Clara E. Rodriguez Puerto Ricans: Between Black and White 81 Willie Perdomo Nigger-Reecan Blues 91 Roberto Santiago Black and Latino 93 Piri Thomas Babylon for the Babylonians (FROM DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS) 96 Victor Hernandez Cruz African Things 101 Judith Ortiz Cofer The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria 102 Miguel Algarin A Mongo Affair 108 PART 4: ANXIETY AND ASSIMILATION "Always broke/Always owing/Never knowing/that they are beautiful people/Never knowing/the geography of their complexion..." —FROM PUERTO RICAN OBITUARY BY PEDRO PIETRI Pedro Pietri Puerto Rican Obituary 117 x • Contents Piri Thomas The Konk 126 Judith Ortiz Cofer The Story of My Body 132 Julia de Burgos To Julia de Burgos 142 Joseph B. Vasquez Hangin' (Out) with the Homeboys 144 Martin Espada Niggerlips 151 Jesus Colon Little Things Are Big 153 Rene Marques The Docile Puerto Rican—Literature and Psychological Reality 155 Esmeralda Santiago The American Invasion ofMaain (FROM WHEN I WAS PUERTO RICAN) 159 PART 5: URBAN REALITY "We accepted everybody... Nobody accepted us." —FROM CARUTO'S WAY BY EDWIN TORRES Pedro Pietri Monday Morning . 181 Freddie Prinze "Looking Good" 184 Edwin Torres Carlito's Way 189 Miguel Piflero Short Eyes 205 CONTENTS • xi Reinaldo Povod Poppa Dio! 218 Pedro Juan Soto Bayaminina 243 Felipe Luciano Roots (FROM PALANTE! YOUNG LORDS PARTY) 245 PART 6: LOVE, FAITH, AND TRANSCENDENCE "Who will be able to detain me with useless dreams/when my soul begins to fulfill its task... ?" —FROM POEM FOR MY DEATH BY JULIA DE BURGOS Julia de Burgos / Became My Own Path 255 Migene Gonzalez-Wippler Yoruba (FROM THE SANTERIA EXPERIENCE) 256 Nicholasa Mohr Aunt Rosana's Rocker - 268 Ana Lydia Vega Aerobics for Love 288 Jack Agiieros Malig; Malig & Sal; Sal. (FROM DOMINOES AND OTHER STORIES FROM THE PUERTO RICAN) 293 Ed Morales My Old Flame 302 Miguel Algarin HIV 304 Julia de Burgos Poem for My Death v 307 Lucky CienFuegos Dedicated to Maria Rodriguez Martinez—February 24, 1975 308 xii • Contents Maria Graniela de Pruetzel The Freddie Prinze Story 310 Geraldo Rivera A Special Kind of Courage: Bernard Carabello 317 Victor Hernandez Cruz Loiza Aldea 342 EPILOGUE: .REDEMPTION "And I will rise, holding a flag once a shroud" —FROM THE FINAL ACT BY JOSE DE DIEGO Jose de Diego The Final Act 347 About the Contributors 349 Author Index ' 357 Permission Acknowledgments 358.