Barrio Sin Luz
¿Se va la poesía de las cosas o no la puede condensar mi vida? Ayer—mirando el último crepúsculo— yo era un manchón de musgo entre unas ruinas. More
Love and Revolution
People sometimes talk about Neruda as two different poets: the poet of politics and revolution, and the poet of love or romance. He is actually both at the same… More
The Eternal Present
Many months later, besieged by thoughts of an all-too-foreseeable future as an engineer, which I did not want, I went out one winter for a walk in the snow.… More
Old-Fasioned Virtues
It was the spring of 1970. I was twenty-three years old, writing and translating poems, writing essays and reviews, but also dreaming of one day being able to write… More
Romantic Realism
That dinner party is etched in my memory for many reasons: the discussion during soup of the American embargo on Cuba; the recital during entrées by Bill Styron,… More
Inverted Realism
I remember when I published my first, very unsuccessful novel, a science-fiction novel, which, to the despair of my publishers, I keep telling people not to read. A friend… More
The Real Worlds
Many of us who come from the Caribbean are astounded when people speak of the “implausibility” of magical realism. For in our worldview, as in our much-loved Gabriel García… More
Diverse Realities
Hearing this story, I thought to myself: This is straight out of Gabriel García Márquez. It was an epiphany for me. I suddenly saw García Márquez’s fiction on a… More
On American Language and Culture
People in this country understand that we’re a nation made up of foreigners; that’s our identity. And those of us who have chosen to live in New York City… More
On American and European Relations
There is no doubt great opposition among the citizens of Europe to the Iraqi adventure. But while the opposition to that war may not be as great in the… More
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