Heartbeats, Rhythms, And Fire is José Angel Figueroa's newest poetry and prose collection. As a leading writer of the Nuyorican literary movement in the United States, Figueroa is best known for his powerful social commentary and mastery of visual imagery. His writings — lyrical and rhythmic, at times autobiographical, and sometimes politically charged — do not fit neatly into one style or category. In this collection, Figueroa explores universal themes of the human experience as well as contemporary social issues with an intriguing range of approaches that include poetic storytelling, short essays, monologues, and elegies.
Heartbeats, Rhythms, And Fire invites the reader to question the origins of self, the construction of time, the roots of love, and the unpredictability vibrating from everyday life and crossing paths with unusual people. Figueroa's accounts of migration journeys and racism offer an insider perspective. His narratives of poverty, violence against women, and entrenched injustice uplift the voices of everyday people, while others capture the passion and fire of frontline activists who toppled the governor of Puerto Rico in 2019, and others like Erica Garner who fought police violence, and Oscar Lopez Rivera, the former Puerto Rican political prisoner. Figueroa shares a voyage that ebbs and flows arriving to where he concludes no one "can't kill relentless faith born from the spirituals of stardust and many rivers."
