For nearly five centuries, the rich tapestry of Latino poetry has been woven from a wealth of languages and cultures—a “tremendous continental mixturao,” in the words of the poet Tato Laviera.
Spanning early accounts of colonial expeditions in the Southwest, visions of the mythical site of Chicano origin, Aztlán, and contemporary expressions of diasporic longing and imagination, the Latino poetic tradition brings dazzling insight to what it means to make a home in America, all the while imparting its own distinct rhythms, lyricism, and candor to American verse.
Recognition of the beauty and power of this tradition has grown in recent years, with Latino poets receiving two national and twelve state Poet Laureateships, a Pulitzer Prize, and three National Book Awards. At the same time the questions confronted by Latino poets—of exile and belonging, language and identity, struggle and solidarity, and labor and landscape—have become ever more urgent.
What does Latino poetry reveal about America? How might it help us imagine a more just, joyful, and capacious future? Places We Call Home, a major public humanities initiative planned for 2024-2025, explores these and other questions through a nationwide engagement with the Latino poetic tradition, illuminating how its legacy of creativity, resistance, and reinvention shapes our evolving aspirations of e pluribus unum.
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