How to Love a Country

by Richard Blanco

A new collection from the renowned inaugural poet exploring immigration, gun violence, racism, LGBTQ issues, and more, in accessible and emotive verses

As presidential inaugural poet, memoirist, public speaker, educator, and advocate, Richard Blanco has crisscrossed the nation inviting communities to connect to the heart of human experience and our shared identity as a country. In this new collection of poems, his first in over seven years, Blanco continues to invite a conversation with all Americans. Through an oracular yet intimate and accessible voice, he addresses the complexities and contradictions of our nationhood and the unresolved sociopolitical matters that affect us all.

The poems form a mosaic of seemingly varied topics: the Pulse Nightclub massacre; an unexpected encounter on a visit to Cuba; the forced exile of 8,500 Navajos in 1868; a lynching in Alabama; the arrival of a young Chinese woman at Angel Island in 1938; the incarceration of a gifted writer; and the poet's abiding love for his partner, who he is finally allowed to wed as a gay man. But despite each poem's unique concern or occasion, all are fundamentally struggling with the overwhelming question of how to love this country.

Seeking answers, Blanco digs deep into the very marrow of our nation through poems that interrogate our past and present, grieve our injustices, and note our flaws, but also remember to celebrate our ideals and cling to our hopes. In the landmark poem "American Wandersong," which forms the center of the book, the poet reveals himself to readers in a disarming and kinetic sequence of stanzas, striving to find his place amid the physical and emotional landscapes of our country.

Through this groundbreaking volume, Blanco unravels the very fabric of the American narrative and pursues a resolution to the inherent contradiction of our nation's psyche and mandate: e pluribus unum (out of many, one). Charged with the utopian idea that no single narrative is more important than another, this book asserts that America could and ought someday to be a country where all narratives converge into one, a country we can all be proud to love and where we can all truly thrive.

Genres: Poetry, LGBT, Politics, Nonfiction, Queer, History, Latinx

112 pages, Hardcover

First published March 26, 2019

About the author

Richard Blanco was born in Madrid in 1968, immigrating as an infant with his Cuban-exile family to the U.S. He was raised and educated in Miami, earning a B.S. in civil engineering and a M.F.A. in creative writing from Florida International University.

In 2013, Blanco was chosen to serve as the fifth inaugural poet of the United States, following in the footsteps as such great writers as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. Blanco performed One Today, an original poem he wrote for the occasion, becoming the youngest, first Latino, immigrant and openly gay writer to hold the honor.

Following the inauguration, he continued connecting communities through occasional poetry. He has written and performed occasional poems for such organizations as Freedom to Marry, the Tech Awards and the Fragrance Awards. In May of 2013, Blanco wrote Boston Strong, a poem he performed at the Boston Garden Benefit Concert and at a Red Sox game at Fenway. Following his performances, he released a limited edition Boston Strong chapbook, with all proceeds going to those most affected by the Boston Marathon bombings.

His books, in order of publication, are: City of a Hundred Fires (1998), Directions to the Beach of the Dead (2005), Looking for the Gulf Motel (2012), One Today (2013), Boston Strong (2013), and For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey (2013).

Blanco has received numerous honors for his writings and performances, including an honorary doctorate from Macalester College and being named a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. His first book, City of a Hundred Fires received the prestigious Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize. His second book, Directions to the Beach of the Dead won the PEN / American Beyond Margins Award. His third book, Looking for The Gulf Motel received various accolades, including the Tom Gunn Award, the Maine Literary Award and the Paterson Prize. His poems have appeared in countless literary journals and anthologies, including Best American Prose Poems and Ploughshares.

Blanco has been a practicing engineer, writer and poet since 1991. He has traveled extensively in his adult life, living and working throughout Europe and South America. He has taught at Georgetown University, American University, Writer’s Center and Central Connecticut State University. Blanco currently lives and writes in the tranquil mountains of Bethel, Maine.

Reviews

[Julie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel petulant right now, starting this review. Childish, dragging my feet.

I have so much admiration (and inappropriate sexual feeling) for Richard Blanco, I don't want to discourage anyone from reading his work, ever.

And this was such a noble undertaking, such a worthwhile project. . .

But, that's the problem right there. I used the word “project,” and that's what this is: a project.

So, what's wrong with a project? Nothing, really. Except. . . sometimes a project can be so goal-oriented, you start thinking overly much about the goal, instead of the writing.

Mr. Blanco had a goal here. He wanted to explore what it means to “love a country,” what it means to “reflect the essential beauty and constant struggle of our democracy as expressed in our nations's motto: e pluribus unum (out of many, one).”

Great goal, but I had a couple of problems here. First, anyone who would truly benefit from this type of exploration wouldn't actually read this collection of poems, and, second, too many of them felt contrived, even for my taste.

Meaning. . . if Mr. Blanco had been on vacation and had found himself sitting across from an elderly Black woman on a bench near the beach and he'd started suddenly scribbling away, writing about her and what he supposed her life might be, something powerful and organic might have occurred. I'm thinking of the word fusion here. “Fusion” is what makes poetry great and it's why some of my best poems have been written on the backs of greasy napkins.

But, when you set out to write a poem about a Cuban man, a Chinese woman, a gay man, and a Native woman. . . I don't know. . . it just starts feeling a little teachy/preachy to me.

Maybe it was just me. Maybe I was the wrong reader. Maybe it was the wrong time. All I know is: this is my fourth book of Richard Blanco's in a year, and it was my least favorite. If you're interested in his poetry, I can't recommend Looking for the Gulf Motel enough.

My favorite from this collection:

EL AMERICANO IN THE MIRROR
Maybe you don’t remember, or don’t want to, or
maybe, like me, you’ve never been able to forget:
May 1979, fifth-grade recess, I grabbed your collar,
shoved you up against the wall behind the chapel,
called you a sissy-ass americano to your face, then
punched you—hard as I could. Maybe you still live,
as I do, with the awful crack of my knuckles’ slam
on your jaw, and the grim memory of your lip split.

Why didn’t you punch me back? That would’ve hurt
less than the jab of your blue eyes dulled with pain—
how you let your body wilt, lean into me, and we
walked arm in arm to the boys’ room, washed off
the blood and dirt. Is that how you remember it?
What you can’t remember is what I thought when
our gazes locked in the mirror and I wanted to say:
I’m sorry, maybe I love you. Perhaps even kiss you.

Did you feel it, too? At that instant did we both
somehow understand what I’m only now capable
of putting into these words: that I didn’t hate you,
but envied you—the americano sissy I wanted to be
with sheer skin, dainty freckles, the bold consonants
of your English name, your perfectly starched shirts,
pleated pants, that showy Happy Days lunchbox,
your A-plus spelling quizzes that I barely passed.

Why didn’t you snitch on me? I don’t remember now
who told Sister Magdalene, but I’ll never forget how
she wrung my ears until I cried for you, dragged me
to the back of the room, made me stand for the rest
of that day, praying the rosary to think hard about
my sins. And I did, I have for thirty-two years, Derek.
Whether you don’t remember, don’t want to, or never
forgot: forgive me, though I may never forgive myself.

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's a good book for anyone who thinks poetry is inaccessible or unnecessary.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

These poems are very timely, from a "Presidential Inaugural Poet" who read a poem at Obama's inauguration. How do you love a country that sometimes hates you, or hasn't made your life easy or safe? Richard Blanco explores these ideas through his poetry from several angles personal to him. His anthem for marriage equality, Until We Could, which is probably his best known poem, was a companion to the fight in the year or so preceding the Supreme Court decision.

I hadn't heard of Blanco before but I'm glad I got the chance to read his work, and I will look forward to it in the future.

Thanks to the publisher for giving me early access through Edelweiss. The collection came out March 26, 2019.

[Sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a German living in Germany, I am probably not the addressee of this collection. I came across his poem "Como Tú/Like You/ Like Me" months ago when I was preparing a lesson on the DREAM Act for an advanced level course. The poem never left me and I wanted to read more by Richard Blanco.

It wasn't quite what I expected, which is not a negative thing. Many poems actually have a very prosaic tone and explore a variety of themes. Although the book is only about 100 pages long, I took my time with it. Despite the prosaic style, you have to read the texts with concentration and let them sink in. Blanco took me on a journey and in highlighting meaningful quotes, which I often do while reading, I might as well have marked the entire book.

However, the final spark was missing for me. Maybe because, as I said, I don't see myself as the addressee and I can't fully read the poems from an American point of view. But I enjoyed reading it and will continue to explore Richard Blanco's poetry!

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and plan to get it for my 19 y/o for Christmas. Here's what I wrote about it on IG from my poetry account:

"Late night poetry reading and highly recommended. Blanco was Obama’s poet laureate and is a gay son of Cuban immigrants. His first book in 6 years is a collection of responses to Trump’s election, the Pulse nightclub shooting, the Boston marathon bombing, and other events since then, along with poignant poems about his own life and others."

I ended up reading some to my husband and had a hard time not wanting to read them all.

You can see some excerpts of these moving poems there: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2oVOi_l6tD/

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I’ve read a book of poetry (outside of some sort of English assignment), and after I stopped myself from trying to speed read through it, I really enjoyed the reflective reading experience.

Tanner and I heard “Cloud Anthem” performed by the New York City Oratorio at Carnegie Hall at the end of last year and I loved, loved, loved it. (Even if you don’t read this book - you should read that poem). A lot of these poems are over a decade old, but still felt poignant in our current state of social and political divide. I admire the way he was able to weave between stories of his own immigration as well as events that have affected the nation as a whole while making it all feel personal to the reader.

[Teresa Whiteman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Blanco is the real deal. His poems are visionary and lyrical, and yes, political. Because when the world is split so widely and so unmistakably into haves and have nots, rich and poor, colored and white, there is nothing that can be written about the human condition anymore, it seems, that *isn't* a political statement. We are lost to each other, in an age when even our ability to agree on basic human rights seems so challenging. Blanco's poems advocate for the unity of humanity by showing us, poignantly, the common human experiences that defy the political walls we build around ourselves and each other. That other inaugural poet, Frost, wrote "good fences make good neighbors." Since then, the fences have only divided the neighborhood--our country--into an inhospitable and inhumane land. Blanco shows us the chinks in those fences where neighbors can begin to greet each other once again.

[Susan Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Blanco - insert several heart eyed emojis here.

This book is for those who say poetry isn't accessible, or relevant, or patriotic. My best description of Blanco is a modern combination of Whitman and Hughes (and he claims he's inspired by both of them in the Author's Note). He's loving a country yet dreaming of a better country. He confronts problems within a country head on but chooses to see the good in the present. The poems are both simple and complex.

My favorites:
"Dreaming a Wall"
"Using Country in a Sentence"
"Let's Remake America Great"
"Mother Country"
"What I Know of a Country"
"Poetry Assignment #4: What Do You Miss Most"

Also the cover is fantastic!

[Evie Bauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We’re the cure for hatred caused by despair. We’re the good morning of a bus driver who remembers our name, the tattooed man who gives up his seat on the subway. We’re every door held open with a smile when we look into each other’s eyes the way we behold the moon. We’re the moon. We’re the promise of one people, one breath declaring to one another: I see you. I need you. I am you."

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

How To Love A Country touches on all the conflict and heartache of being an immigrant. I know I emigrated to America through a position of privilege, but there is a lot in here to which I strongly relate. It is tough to leave your motherland, but there is also a lot to celebrate about life in America.

[Laura Sackton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I had read a poem of Blanco's in Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color that I loved. This collection did not grab me the way that poem did. It felt too sanitized to me, too neat, too polite. The strongest poems were the few that delve into Blanco's own experiences, the personal poems written from his life. But most of the rest of the poems didn't feel alive in the same way. They felt rote, almost, and though I could sense the emotion underneath the words, it didn't really come through in the poems themselves. For me, they felt more like messages of hope and unity, rather than poems about all the messy, complicated horrors of humanity and America.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to Love a Country, in Blanco's words is having "hope in our nationhood and an implied question about our struggles with it." Blanco, Barack Obama's inaugural poet, celebrates immigration and also challenges the political rhetoric around the subject. The poems really emphasize shared experience and unity — unity in celebration and life, unity in tragedy and unity challenges as a country. Perhaps my favorite poem is about "loving a nation like you're leaving it," which explores the questions as he looks at his mother's experience immigrating to the U.S. It is very much a book about finding home in a country, a body, in a community and other people. The root of that exploration is love, and how loving something often means having difficult conversations. These poems start that conversation, but with optimism and hope.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blanco raises a patriotic torch of hope for America through his collection of personal and occasional poems. In "What I Know of Country, " he writes "to know a country takes all we know of love." Blanco's poems sing of his love for his parents, his partner, and his country. Blanco's vision is not distorted by his passion, but clarified by reflection and study of recent and historical tragedies. Blanco encourages his readers to be part of a resilient future.

[Gily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love. Love. Love. I don't usually read poetry without Sivan reading it for me, but I heard Richard Blanco talk at UMassmed School and wanted more. I listen to him reading his poetry and enjoyed it I found myself in his words. Recommended

[M Delea · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a remarkable book--each section is quite different from the others, which added to the enjoyment.

I had heard him read the poem (included in this book) Mother Country a few months ago, and the poem (also in this book) Seventeen Funerals before that, and the strength of those two poems led me to this book.

All of the poems about about America in some way, with most looking at the immigrant experience. Besides the poet's own experience with immigrating, and that of his parents, he also has persona poems in which he looks at immigration from the point of view of others. However, there are also poems about America's problems, and these are voiced in a variety of ways: racism, homophobia, violence, etc.

Although this book is filled with issues and problems, there is also love and hope and respect.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Blanco is one of the best poets of our time and, no, I don't think that is an overstatement. He is an incredible poet not just because he can write poetry well but because of what he chooses to write about. This collection of poems is like the US, a melting pot of the stories and struggles of marginalized communities - marginalized on the basis of race, sexual orientation, immigration status, class and more. This book is invaluable because of how perfectly it encapsulates these turbulent times we are living through in verses and phrases that resonate deep within us. For anyone who has felt as an outsider in the US, as the 'other', this book is for you. This book is also for those who may not understand the heaviness and complexity of the lived experiences of people who are unlike themselves but inhabit the same country. Spectacular collection, would recommend it any day.

[V Shipp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Blanco’s poetry. In particular this collection had me tearing up throughout - he covers the Boston bombing, Pulse nightclub shooting, the beauty of being an immigrant in the US - the hope and opportunities.... and the particularly toxic environment for undocumented persons under the Trump administration. Eager to read more of his collections. His poetry forces you to slow down, reread and absorb. Much needed.

[Jorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of poems. Blanco captures the essence of what it is to be an American, and an immigrant in America. Each poem tells a story, at times tragic and sad, at other times filled with love and hope. In this book an immigrant poet sings with great love what it means to be American. Highly recommended.

[Lynsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an emotional roller coaster - well, mostly the trough before the crest. Blanco speaks for so many voices in this slim volume, and he does it beautifully. There was some prose poetry in here, which I'm not the biggest fan of, but there were others with lyrical refrains that flowed really well. read my full review here.

[Xeni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I’m obsessed with this newest collection by Blanco. His writing is poignant and honest delivering a unique voice that is essential to understanding modern America. These poems have made me cry and have strangely brought me some peace. Thank you, Blanco. These poems are a true blessing.

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Let's place each memory like a star, the light of their past reaching us now, and always, reminding us to keep writing until we never need to write a poem like this again."

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️

[Danielle Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real look into the tragedies and victories of America; from sea to shining sea.

[Daviel Salgado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, emotion-filled poetry that often made me feel emotional reflecting on my own experiences as a naturalized Cuban-American. A good read for any immigrant in between multiple worlds.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent poetry.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful collection of poetry that will stick with me for a long time to come. Richard Blanco has a gift for being able to use his writing to get to the root of a number of major issues facing the world today. The poems are easy to read and the messages are powerful, making this a great collection for people who are trying to get into poetry for the first time. Everything here is incredibly politically motivated, however, so if reading is a form of escapism from current events, then this probably isn't a good fit. Still, I highly recommend this, even if you don't usually like poetry.

I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning.

[Corinne Rovetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to him at Obama's inauguration and then recently heard him on interview with Krista Tippett, reading from this book. Had to read in its entirety...so moving and heart-wrenchingly piercing.

[Alanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked these!

[Clelia Albano · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of this collection, “How to Love a Country”, is very telling. The indeterminative article “a” expresses the universality of love and consequently, the universality of poetry since love is the key motif of Richard Blanco's inspiration. In “Mother Country”, the verses “ it isn’t where you’re born that matters, it’s where/ you choose to die—that’s your country”, sound like a declaration of brotherhood and shared fondness that come out as a tribute to a place which is not a mere geographic expression but the archetype of all the places, the archetype of all the homes beyond time and space, located inside the emotional dimension of experience.
“American Wondersong” makes palpable the dualism between being here and elsewhere at the same time. It is a poem which embodies the identity card of Blanco, who in eight pages sings his life. Each stanza’s incipit carries with it the solemnity of the greatest masters of the Western Canon literature, from the classic era to the modern ones, such as Walt Whitman. We are reminded of the latter, particularly, when we are embraced by the generosity of words and the attachment to collective values that Blanco bestows. The poet opens American Wondersong with his parents exiled from Cuba, and his birth. Later he is “birthed again” as an immigrant in America. His name “ is and isn't Ricardo”. His name “ is and isn't Richard”. This stress on the name is a remarkable trait of Blanco's poetics. Names and words, on the one hand, carry with them the gravity of their conventionality, on the other hand once channelled into poetry, they sow the seeds of polysemy and by it they reveal how to escape the box of held views. Blanco knows the danger hidden inside languages. He knows that words have the power to create and to destroy; that's why his belonging cannot match the concept of absolute truths nor the idea of only one land, only one home. With regard to “ belonging” the poet surprisingly quotes the Italian poet and writer, Cesare Pavese, in “Leaving in the rain: Livemerick, Ireland”:

"Pavese was right: You need a village, if only for / the pleasure of leaving it…"

To turn back to the American Wondersong, the lyrical recount of Blanco's life flows just like the subject of another mesmerizing poem "Complaint of El Rio Grande” that
emerges as a strong symbol of freedom. Here, again, the poet's caring for names stands out.

" Then countries - your invention - maps / jigsawing the world into colored shapes / caged in bold lines to say: you're here, / not there, you're this, not that, to say: / yellow isn't red, red isn't black, black is / not white, to say: mine, not ours, to say / war, and believe life's worth is relative ".

Well, this last word “ relative", is the demarcation of the common linguistic code from the poetic language.

In fact relativism of the common vocabulary is the trigger of a dangerous discrimination. It is never inoffensive especially when it is built on deixis (this, that, here, there, et cetera).
Poetry, instead, transcends borders, and poetry alone can unchain words from harming. Another topos that articulates a sort of semiotics of poetry formulated by Richard Blanco, is translation. There's no need to say that being Blanco bilingual his own relation to the problem of processing the translation from one language into another must have formed the idea of communication as a dynamic system not immune from traps. Sometimes it's like a mine camp and yet translations take a different shape when they are functional to poetry. Inside this corpus of poems several hints, situations and employment of Spanish words are evocative of this process from one language into another. It requires the finding of the right lexicon to make poetry comfortable with both of them. Translation is something more, though. Because of the etymology of translation (traducción in Spanish) from the Latin verb "transfero", it carries the concept of thanatos by recalling the transfer of a corpse to the graveyard. The very idea of things taking another form, this philosophical idea of belonging and not belonging, of being and not being, keeps in Blanco, the concept of life and death and rebirth over and over again.
In "My Father in English", one of the most touching poems ever written on fathers and a manifesto of the condition of being immigrant, Blanco's dad is:

“ the man who died without true translation"

Putting aside the question of the English language emigrated people to America have to learn, there's more to read between the lines. The poet's father was strongly rooted in his country. His body belonged to his native country. So, his passing away, was not an actual transfer to the immigration country. His “ translation” takes place only into the verses of his descendant:

"I always meant to tell him in both languages:
thank you/gracias for surrendering the past tense /of your life so that I might conjugate myself here/ in the present of this country, in truth /así es, indeed."

Richard Blanco as a civic poet plays a rare role these times. The oneness he claims requires a literary paradigm shift to the engagement of the intellectuals.