Poetry by Victor Hernández Cruz
September 1, 1997 • 6 x 9 • 192 pages • 978-1-56689-066-3
Dancing in your hands, Panoramas illuminates Latin American/Caribbean culture in the U.S. and abroad.
A native of Puerto Rico who grew up in New York during the fifties, Cruz seeks out the most disparate images, ideas, people, and finds in them confluence, rather than conflict. Utilizing a system of Caribbean syntheses, he meditates on his native soil and its diaspora. Inspired by Latin American oral traditions and literature and diverse northern poetics, he melts these influences into a tapestry, creating a unique North American contemporary style truly his own.
With the power of a tropical storm and the heat of the sweltering sun, Cruz presents a bird’s-eye view of the crisscrossing cultures in Latin America, the Caribbean, Los Angeles, and the Lower East Side. Included in Panoramas are works in both Spanish and English.
About the Author
Victor Hernández Cruz is the author of several collections of poetry including The Mountain in the Sea and In the Shadow of Al-Andalus. Featured in Bill Moyers’s Language of Life series, Cruz’s collection Maraca was a finalist for the Lenore Marshall and Griffin Poetry Prizes. He divides his time between Morocco and his native Puerto Rico.