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buenos días. for absolutely no reason other than being a grumpy capricorn, i'm going to cover all the things i hate ppl (primarily in the u.s.) doing re my poetry.
most of these things are colonial or indirectly related to colonialism.
1) claiming to know my work, but bringing weak arguments or questions i already covered in my books.
2) asking my what i think abt the status of puerto rico, when i have made that amply clear in all of my interviews, lit, existence. also, rude.
3) treating me as if i didn't deserve attention/praise with no knowledge of pr poetry. if you don't know more than five puerto rican poets from the archipelago, i don't care what you think about my work.
4) asking me AGAIN why i don't translate certain words.
5) assuming i write in spanish to "make a point" and not because... i speak spanish and write in spanish and exist in a spanish-speaking country.
6) explaining my own work to me.
7) assuming i have not read the theory books that go into the theorizing in my poetry. just because i choose to be a poet, doesn't mean i wasn't force-fed canonical theory.
8) assuming i don't know u.s. poetry because i come from a country colonized by the u.s. in fact, i manage to know poetry from the u.s. and from puerto rico. imagine that!
9) offering unsolicited formal advice.
10) asking me to work for free.
11) expecting an immediate response to a query and then becoming offended when i take the time i need.
12) believing that contracting me to do a job once gives the person the right to forever treat me like i owe them a service.
13) asking me, without checking if it is ok, to talk about maría.
14) as a final point, if you are white and in the colonizing country, i owe you nothing. absolutely nothing. assume this when you speak to me, write to me, or engage with me.
