Boricua Echoes
Aaron P. Dworkin
As we prepare for the upcoming, 2023 Annual GIA Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Aaron P. Dworkin - our guest poetjournalist offers the following piece for reflection and anticipation.
Listen to the recording or read the piece below.
Heartbeat of the Caribbean
Azure waves whisper a dignity
Puerto Rico stands a sentinel
Bearing the weight
Of voices restrained.
Not quite state
Not fully free
A commonwealth
What does it mean to be citizens
Yet caricatures on a screen
In grand theatre of democracy?
A quest for identity
In disarray
Held by stars and stripes
Abandoned by asymmetrical justice
A silence stays.
The uneven streets of Old San Juan
Share the memories of marches
Beyond the masks of tourists
And makeshift realities.
Hurricanes rage with abandon
Without senators to debate
The true debt of a society
Defined by delay
And lack of representation.
The cacophony of unrealized equality
Echoes from a kaleidoscope island
To marble halls on the hill of a city
That shares a similar story.
ABOUT THE COVER ART
Multitud (2018) by Carlos Davila Rinaldi, currently living and worksing in Puerto Rico. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s Davila Rinaldi has exhibited locally and internationally on many occasions as well as being included in various major private and public collections, including the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR), the Ponce Museum and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de PR (MAC). He participated in the GLCA Apprenticeship program (now called the AICAD / New York Studio Residency Program) with Robert Stackhouse and Louis Liberman and has a Liberal Arts degree from DePauw University. His work constantly switches between colorful abstractions and figurative work that often indulges in social issues found in his native Puerto Rico. In 2018 he presented AFTERMATH; a personal view of issues the island faced after Hurricane Maria, and in 2020 he shared his take on the COVID-19 Pandemic where he presented the “Lockdown Paintings,” a series of large scale paintings that reflected on his experience, thoughts, and comments during the lockdown.
You can see more work on his website: davilarinaldi.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Named a 2005 MacArthur Fellow, President Obama’s first appointment to the National Council on the Arts and member of President Biden’s Arts Policy Committee, Aaron P. Dworkin is former dean and current Professor of Arts Leadership & Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Aaron is a best-selling writer and poetjournalist having authored his poetry collection, They Said I Wasn’t Really Black, along with four other books including his memoir, Uncommon Rhythm: A Black, White, Jewish, Jehovah's Witness, Irish-Catholic Adoptee's Journey to Leadership, and The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives.
Read more about Aaron here.
