Juan Felipe Herrera
Juan Felipe Herrera
Juan Felipe Herrerais a poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, and activist. Herrera has been the United States Poet Laureate since 2015...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth27 December 1948
CountryUnited States of America
almost centuries difficult facing figure hard issue odd people poem poetry speak
Poetry, as odd as it is, and as hard to figure out as it is, many times, it's almost something that we're used to. It's kind of like a dream language that we had centuries ago, so that when we speak poetically or write a poem about what's going on, a real difficult issue that's facing our communities, people listen.
academic call care cluttered detox letters minds people poet poetry taking
Let's detox our cluttered academic brain. That's what the poet does. People call it daydreaming, detoxing our minds and taking care of that clutter. It's being able to let in call letters from the poetry universe.
decades largest latin lived mexico mom perhaps
My grandmother and my mom and my aunt Aurelia, my grandmother Juanita, my mom Lucia - we lived on the outskirts of a barrio in Mexico City called Tepito, and Tepito for many, many decades was the largest barrio in Mexico and perhaps even Latin America.
assist gap hearing knowing latino terms understanding
We speak about understanding each other, having those conversations nationwide - culturally, historically - and yet there's a lot of gaps. So I want to assist with closing the gap of knowing about and hearing about our Latino communities in terms of literature, in terms of writing.
bit grade hit learning second spoke third time
First grade was - I spoke only Spanish, and second grade - probably a bit more English. And by the time I hit third grade, I was learning, of course, much, much more English.
run
Do not wait for a poem; a poem is too fast for you. Do not wait for the poem; run with the poem and then write the poem.
banner good invite people perhaps poetry
The banner of the project is 'Casa de Colores.' Under that banner, I'm going to invite people to do a lot of good things. Perhaps working in groups, working on poetry.
latinas latinos
I want our young Latinos and Latinas to write their hearts out and express their hearts out and let us all listen to each other.
laureate poet united
Yes, I am the first Latino poet laureate in the United States. But I'm also here for everyone and from everyone. My voice is made by everyone's voices.
moved oral traditions
What I really had was stories, the oral traditions of my parents. We moved so much that that was really our encyclopedia. A dream world told to me from my parents in the living room.
maybe society
The more we engage in society, the more firsts we have, then there will be a moment when we have no more firsts. Or maybe there will always be new firsts.
felt
As a boy, I felt ashamed of being Mexican. I'd say I was Hawaiian.
Sometimes I have a very fleeting emotional dance with a fleeting phrase, like 'half-Mexican.'
melody
I write while I'm walking, on little scraps of paper. If I have a melody going, I can feel it for days.