The New York Times City Room: A Homecoming in a New Home
By David Gonzalez
Tato Laviera may be a standard-bearer for Puerto Rican poetry and literature, but for most of this year he had no place to plant the flag — or hang his favorite Panama hat — after a medical emergency last December left him homeless.
Last week, he finally had a homecoming. He has moved into a bright studio in East Harlem, long the spiritual home of the city’s Puerto Rican population. While he would have preferred to have stayed closer to his beloved Lower East Side, he is no stranger to the area.
“I was supposed to be claimed by Loisaida, by my community, but they couldn’t find a place for me there,” Mr. Laviera, 60, said Tuesday. “In the end, you get claimed by whoever claims you, and El Barrio claimed me. They lifted me up. And it is definitely the center of Puerto Rican-hood in America!”
Complete story is at the New York Times City Room Blog.
Related Links
• Details of Tato Laviera's struggle to find a new home are here.
• Three Poems by Tato Laviera are here.
• Tato Laviera's obra de poesia at Google Books.
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