The House of Colors

The new American poet laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, interviewed on NPR, is the child of Mexican immigrants.  In the interview, he talks about his childhood, saying, "It was like living in literature all the time."

"You have a poem to offer/ It is made of action." This line comes from a poem he wrote about the victims of the shooting tragedy in South Carolina.

Excerpt: Notes On The Assemblage
Poem by Poem

— in memory of Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., Rev. Sharonda Singleton, Myra Thompson Shot and killed while at church. Charleston, SC (6-18-2015), RIP

poem by poem we can end the violence
every day after
every other day
9 killed in Charleston, South Carolina
they are not 9 they
are each one
alive
we do not know

you have a poem to offer
it is made of action — you must
search for it run

outside and give your life to it
when you find it walk it
back — blow upon it

carry it taller than the city where you live
when the blood come down
do not ask if
it is your blood it is made of
9 drops
honor them
wash them stop them
from falling


As his first project as poet laureate, Herrera is writing an epic poem, La Casa De Colores, in which all Americans are invited to contribute lines.