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Printer-Friendly ModePoet, students share poetry at recent diversity event
April 10, 2006 —
Internationally known poet and playwright Dr. Rane Arroyo visited SVSU Wednesday to speak and read several of his poems in Founders Hall.
Dr. C. Vincent Samarco, assistant professor of English, began the night by introducing Arroyo. He began writing poetry at the age of 14 and has five books published today. Some of his books include The Singing Shark and A Portable Famine, which was available to buy at the reading.
Many of Arroyo's poems focused primarily on his Puerto Rican and Midwestern roots, and living in these cultures as a gay man.
Born in Chicago, he spent the first 10 years there speaking Spanish and was later forced to learn English and even lose his Puerto Rican accent. However, he still incorporates both languages into his poems such as "Skipper" and "Spanish Lessons," which describes his hard times with being bilingual in an area where it was not acceptable.
The first poem he read was "The Splendid Fields," which he wrote for Wednesday's occasion.
Arroyo's poems also incorporated a lot of television, films, and pop culture in general. His poems made reference to Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Selena. He was very specific in his details, making his poems even more unique and something of his own. Arroyo mentioned that his "poems were like snapshots" and that being "specific is terrific," which is the slogan he uses for all of the classes he teaches.
Much of his poetry is also about his family. After becoming openly gay, there was tension between him and his family. Because of this, he said he writes poems about his family for a historical purpose. In this way, he said, his family will never diminish. He does not want his family to vanish, although now his mother has moved in with him.
Arroyo explained that when writing poetry, one must really value what he or she is writing about. Making our culture and other cultures understand our messages and making sure we are heard is an important element in poetry, he said.
"A poet does not always have to be the one with the answers," Arroyo said. "He's the one that hears people's questions." This connects with his idea of understanding poetry and is the reason why many of his poems end in questions.
Arroyo has moved quite frequently around the United States and even proclaimed to have had over 50 addresses throughout his life. He closed his readings with "Leaving Again," a poem about packing up an "aspect of our life" and moving to another one.
Arroyo also brought two of his students to read some of their work as well. Both Teneice Delgado and Dan Nowak read poetry of their roots, life, and family. Arroyo said it was important for generations to talk to each other.