On Thursday October 1, a group of 10 poets and performers from the Mayagüez area came together to recite original material during the Puerto Rican Poetry Night event at La Naza, the landmark bar of the Dulces Labios neighborhood in Mayagüez. The group counted with an eclectic mix of poets ranging from undergraduate and graduate students as well as instructors from UPRM, to locals and nonnatives alike all with one thing in common: pride for their Puerto Rican heritage and legacy.
The event was organized by Ana Portnoy, a senior English major at UPRM, and Edward Contreras, an English instructor at UPRM. The pair began organizing the event about three months ago, after Portnoy caught Contreras’ attention at an event held at UPRM last March titled “Migration and Cultural Remittances: a Homage for Juan Flores,” where she read some of her original poetry. Impressed by her “fire” and passion for poetry, he approached Portnoy to help him produce an event to celebrate Puerto Rican art and culture. The two immediately considered La Naza to be an ideal venue, a place that is close to both: Contreras used to be a bartender there five years ago; Portnoy is a patron who frequents its weekly Martes de salsa nights. They contacted the owner, Christian Feliciano, who was immediately on-board with the idea, the three settled on a date and soon enough, began planning.
Portnoy and Contreras at La Naza
Some poets were recruited personally by Portnoy and Contreras, while others signed up via Facebook following extensive advertising and promotion on the social media site over the last couple of weeks. Eventually 10 poets signed on, each with at least two poems to perform, a figure which pleasantly surprised both Contreras and Portnoy. Fifteen more poets signed on to perform open mic during the event.
Kelsins Santos, one of the performers and a second year English graduate student, commended the event and the opportunity it provided for self-expression: “it was a wonderful event to celebrate creativity,” he said. Santos performed two original poems, “The River,” and “When the Earth Speaks,” and one poem by rapper Kendrick Lamar titled “Negus.”
Among the other performers at the event were UPRM students Héctor Huyke, a fourth-year Hispanic Studies major; Pedro Moreu, a second-year English major; Fernando Correa, a second-year English graduate student; Fernando Rodríguez, also an English graduate student; Willie James, a rapper and English instructor at UPRM, and Portnoy and Contreras themselves.
Apart from an original piece, Fernando Rodríguez performed a poem by Jim Morrisson titled “Lament.”
The event was a tremendous success which drew in dozens of students, professors, and other spectators from all over the area. Camila Jiménez, a fourth year psychology major at UPRM, mentioned she wished the event could happen more frequently: “I’m having such a good time, if they did this weekly I would definitely come back and invite friends,” she said. Other spectators and performers, like second-year graduate English student Margarita Rivera, commended the minute planning of the event. Rivera said that she was pleased by the quality of the performances and the smoothness of the program, “it’s nice to see everyone come together to support local artists seriously.”
Contreras, impressed by the turnout, flirted with the idea of planning a similar event for the end of the Fall semester or for next semester. Portnoy, on the other hand, was over the moon: “it’s so beautiful to see so many young people and people from the university coming over to see local art, local poetry, local voices…it’s inspiring to see them and have them participate.”
Part of the crowd at La Naza on Thursday night.