I don’t have one hometown but at least three or even four, depending on how you define hometown. The past ten years are the first in which I’ve lived in one town for more than seven years. But I think of hometown as where my roots are, my childhood memories and origins. Still, even then the towns I or my family are from are often too small to have well-recognized or easily identifiable poets, so I’ve chosen the larger town or state or community as “hometown.”

For our Sigma Tau Delta “Hometown” Poetry event tonight at ULM, selections from my “hometown” poets.

Washington State, my birthplace

Assiduously by Claudia Castro Luna – Poems | Academy of American Poets

POEM WEDNESDAY – Puget Sound by Marlon Fick | The Antioch Review Blog

From Puerto Rico’s greatest poet, Julia de Burgos:

Yo Misma Fui Mi Ruta by Julia de Burgos – Famous poems, famous poets. – All Poetry

Original Spanish: Yo Misma Fui Mi Ruta by Julia de Burgos – Famous poems, famous poets. – All Poetry

Río Grande de Loíza by Julia de Burgos – Famous poems, famous poets. – All Poetry

Original Spanish: Río Grande de Loíza by Julia de Burgos – Famous poems, famous poets. – All Poetry

From Albuquerque, the closest I have to a personal hometown:

I Am Offering this Poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca | Poetry Foundation

Immigrants in Our Own Land by Jimmy Santiago Baca | Poetry Foundation