Burnt Sugar Cana Quemada: Contemporary Cuban Poetry in English and Spanish

by Lori Marie Carlson (Editor), Oscar Hijuelos (Editor)

Overview

Here are the sights, sounds, and rhythms of Cuba, revealed in the evocative works of some of the finest Cuban and Cuban American poets of the twentieth century. In Burnt Sugar, bestselling translator Lori Marie Carlson and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos have created an intimate collection of some of their favorite modern poems, all of which are informed by cubanía -- the essence of what it means to be Cuban. "Cuban" in this sense refers neither to ideology nor to geography but rather to the distinguishing characteristics of Cuban poetry as it has developed over time: clever verbal play, overt rhythmic notes, and an intensity of longing, whether religious, political, or amorous.

Many of these poems have never been translated into English before, and taken together they, as the editors say, "produce a vibrant, satisfying sound and vivid imagery. They allow for some understanding of modern-day preoccupations, contradictions, feelings, and attitudes considered to be Cuban." Stirring, immediate, and universal in its sensibility, Burnt Sugar is a luminous collection lovingly compiled by two of the world's foremost authorities on the subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780743276627
Publisher:	Free Press
Publication date:	08/07/2006
Edition description:	Bilingual
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	442,751
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Lori Marie Carlson is the author of two novels, two landmark bilingual poetry anthologies, and many other young adult and children's books. Oscar Hijuelos is a first-generation Cuban American and the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He has written six novels, the most recent of which is A Simple Habana Melody. They live in New York City.

Oscar Hijuelos (1951–2013) was a first-generation Cuban American and the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He wrote several novels, including Dark Dude and A Simple Habana Melody.

Table of Contents

Contents

Editors' Note

Introduction

The Rain

La lluvia

Gustavo Pérez Firmat

Rain

Lluvia

José Abreu Felippe

1898 Vistas

Vistas del 1898

Enrique Sacerio-Garí

Autumn Presents Me with a Leaf

El otoño me regala una hoja

Reinaldo Arenas

I Have Always Lived in Cuba

Siempre he vivido en Cuba

Heberto Padilla

A Poem for the Epiphany

Poema de la epifanía

Pablo Medina

I've Never Seen It Snow

Yo nunca he visto nevar

Agustín Acosta

From Head to Toe (allegro giocoso)

Desde tus ojos a tus piernas (allegro giocoso)

Luis Cartañá

Feet

Los pies

Rafael Catalá

Loving You Is a Way of Being

Amarte es un modo de ser

Angel Cuadra

Memories

Recuerdos

Eugenio Florit

Weariness

Cansancio

Orlando Rossardi

To José Martí

A José Martí

Walter de las Casas

Obatalá

Obatalá

Severo Sarduy

Song to the Sugarcane

Canción a la caña verde

Virgil Suárez

Sugarcane

Achy Obejas

Your Darkness, Your Salt

Tu oscuridad, tu sal

Fayad Jamís

Sleep Apnea

Apnea

Sandra M. Castillo

Secretos

Lissette Méndez

Hopeless

Irremediable

Laura Ymayo Tartakoff

Returning

Regresando

Ruth Behar

We Are the Heirs

Somos los herederos

Rita Geada

The Photogenic Ones

Los fotogénicos

Belkis Cuza Malé

For the Cuban Dead

Para los muertos cubanos

Ricardo Pau-Llosa

Destinies

Destinos

Jesús J. Barquet

I Was Created in Silence

Yo fui engendrado en silencio

José Kozer

Man Conceived

Concebido el hombre

Lourdes Gil

The Island

La Isla

Pura del Prado

Words Are Islands

Las palabras son islas

Orlando González Esteva

If You Press Me

Si me precisas

Uva de Aragón

To the Rumba Players of Belén, Cuba...An Interpretation of a Song...

Adrián Castro

Elegía de María Belén Chacón

Emilio Ballagas

Going Bananas

Going Bananas

Rita María Martínez

The Gardener

La jardinera

Carolina Hospital

Years of Discourse

Los años de conversación

Dionisio D. Martínez

With Bare Hands

Con las manos desnudas

Dolores Prida

Bebita I

Bebita I

Armando Valladares

Acknowledgments

Contributors

Editors

Editorial Reviews

"This is a fascinating collection that brings together writers from Cuba as well as those living in the diaspora. It underscores the many strains of Cuban poetry and its unique place in Hispanic literature. The anthology is an open invitation to know more about the authors included, to better acquaint ourselves with their work and contemporary Cuban poetry."
— Raquel Chang-Rodríguez, Distinguished Professor, The City College Graduate Center, CUNY

"There are many wonderful revelations in this seductive collection, but perhaps the greatest comes from the bittersweet taste of Cuba with which it leaves us — the sense of the beloved island, forever present in the poetic act of remembering."
— Wendy Gimbel, author of Havana Dreams

From the Publisher