Homenaje a la literatura hispana
(Homage to Hispanic Literature)
Poetry by
Angela Acosta
Homenaje a la literatura hispana
Se decían que se puede caber
las infinitas historias y vidas
de docenas de culturas
en una sola antología literaria.
Intenté una y otra vez a
rebelarme contra el canon,
buscando chispas de inspiración
en los archivos más sagrados
de nuestra literatura hispana.
En mis clases de español rindo homenaje
al universo plurilingüe de nuestras letras.
Celebro con mis estudiantes los poemas, cuentos
y obras de arte de escritores conocidos,
desde Góngora a Rubén Darío.
Intentamos sacar de las biografías mal contadas
las escritoras no canónicas y voces mal escuchadas,
desde la exiliada Juana Manuela Gorriti
a Lucía Sánchez Saornil quien luchó
con palabras durante la Guerra Civil Española.
Añadimos más nombres y textos
para nuestro hispanismo;
investiguémonos manuscritos y revistas literarias
para vitalizar nuestras aulas.
Rompemos con el modelo binario
del canon elogiado y los demás olvidados,
proponiendo nuevos esquemas de todas
las constelaciones de literaturas, pueblos
y cosmovisiones que habitan nuestro pasado, presente y futuro.
Homage to Hispanic Literature
It was once said that one can fit
the infinite stories and lives
of dozens of cultures
in a single literary anthology.
I tried time and again
to rebel against the canon,
searching for sparks of inspiration
in the most sacred archives
of our Hispanic literature.
In my Spanish classes I pay tribute
the plurilingual universe of our literature.
I celebrate with my students the poetry, stories
and artwork of well-known authors,
from Góngora to Rubén Darío.
We try to extract non canonical women writers and
voices not heard from badly told biographies,
from the exiled Juana Manuela Gorriti
to Lucía Sánchez Saornil who fought
with words during the Spanish Civil War.
We add more names and texts
for our Hispanism;
let’s investigate manuscripts and literary magazines
to vitalize our classrooms.
We break from the binary model
of the praised canon and the forgotten others,
proposing new frameworks for
all the constellations of literatures, peoples
and world views that inhabit our past, present, and future.
Bio:
Angela Acosta (she/her) is a bilingual poet and Ph.D. Candidate in Iberian Studies at The Ohio State University. Her dissertation, teaching, and creative writing focus on recovering the legacies of early twentieth century Spanish women writers by providing new poems, translations, and analyses of their work. Angela’s academic articles and translations have appeared in Ámbitos Feministas, El Cid, and Metamorphoses with a forthcoming article in Persona Studies. Her creative writing has appeared in Toyon: Multilingual Journal of Literature and Art, Pluma, Flying Island Literary Journal, and Latinx Lit Audio Mag.
