Burnt Sugar Cana Quemada

Contemporary Cuban Poetry in English and Spanish

Lori Marie Carlson, Oscar Hijuelos, Lori Marie Carlson, Oscar Hijuelos

• Publisher: Free Press
• Year: 2006
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9780743293471
• Subtopic: American Poetry
• Index: Literature

Here are the sights, sounds, and rhythms of Cuba, revealed in the evocative works of some of the finest Cuban and Cuban American poets of the twentieth century. In Burnt Sugar, bestselling translator Lori Marie Carlson and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos have created an intimate collection of some of their favorite modern poems, all of which are informed by cubanía -- the essence of what it means to be Cuban. "Cuban" in this sense refers neither to ideology nor to geography but rather to the distinguishing characteristics of Cuban poetry as it has developed over time: clever verbal play, overt rhythmic notes, and an intensity of longing, whether religious, political, or amorous. Many of these poems have never been translated into English before, and taken together they, as the editors say, "produce a vibrant, satisfying sound and vivid imagery. They allow for some understanding of modern-day preoccupations, contradictions, feelings, and attitudes considered to be Cuban." Stirring, immediate, and universal in its sensibility, Burnt Sugar is a luminous collection lovingly compiled by two of the world's foremost authorities on the subject.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Editors’ Note
• Introduction
• The Rain
• La lluvia
• Rain
• Lluvia
• 1898 Vistas
• Vistas del 1898
• Autumn Presents Me with a Leaf
• El otoño me regala una hoja
• I Have Always Lived in Cuba
• Siempre he vivido en Cuba
• A Poem for the Epiphany
• Poema de la epifanía
• I’ve Never Seen It Snow
• Yo nunca he visto nevar
• From Head to Toe (allegro giocoso)
• Desde tus ojos a tus piernas (allegro giocoso)
• Feet
• Los pies
• Loving You Is a Way of Being
• Amarte es un modo de ser
• Memories
• Recuerdos
• Weariness
• Cansancio
• To José Martí
• A José Martí
• Obatalá
• Obatalá
• Song to the Sugarcane
• Canción a la caña verde
• Sugarcane
• Your Darkness, Your Salt
• Tu oscuridad, tu sal
• Sleep Apnea
• Apnea
• Secretos
• Hopeless
• Irremediable
• Returning
• Regresando
• We Are the Heirs
• Somos los herederos
• The Photogenic Ones
• Los fotogénicos
• For the Cuban Dead
• Para los muertos cubanos
• Destinies
• Destinos
• I Was Created in Silence
• Yo fui engendrado en silencio
• Man Conceived
• Concebido el hombre
• The Island
• La Isla
• Words Are Islands
• Las palabras son islas
• If You Press Me
• Si me precisas
• To the Rumba Players of Belén, Cuba . . . An Interpretation of a Song . . .
• Elegía de María Belén Chacón
• Going Bananas
• Going Bananas
• The Gardener
• La jardinera
• Years of Discourse
• Los años de conversación
• With Bare Hands
• Con las manos desnudas
• Bebita I
• Bebita I
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• Editors
• Copyright