Ethnicity and Performance: Bilingualism in Spanglish Verse Culture Author(s): Harald Zapf Source: Amerikastudien / American Studies, Vol.

51, No. 1, Multilingualism and American Studies (2006), pp. 13-27 Published by: Universittsverlag WINTER Gmbh Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41158195 . Accessed: 22/02/2014 06:54
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Universittsverlag WINTER Gmbh is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Amerikastudien / American Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

and Performance: Ethnicity in SpanglishVerse Culture Bilingualism

Harald Zapf

ABSTRACT
Thisarticle is aboutcontemporary verseculture and one ofitsparadigmatic sites:the Spanglish Poets Cafe. Duringthe historical Nuyorican periodthatis coveredhere- 1975 to 1994- ethnic nationalism became less important at the Cafe,and transethnic rose to its performance poetry is a of the where voice is a self, peak. Nuyorican poetry mainly poetry poetic complexissueconnectedwith and vocal/lingual All in all,itcan be said thatthere performance, ethnicity, diversity. was a shift of emphasis from monovocalism to multivocalism, from to monolingualbilingualism as an ethnic feature to bilingualism as a matter of performance and ism,and from bilingualism freechoice. genuinely The fetishizing ofpureSpanishonlyservesa colonialmindset, Latinos fromparticipating in the more dynamic, preventing is Spanishadapting the adaptableworldof English.Spanglish of English, and Englishinheriting themulticulcrazyrhythms turalcontent ofLatinAmerica. Ed Morales6

Twoofthemostimportant ofinterAmerican verseculture poetry anthologies comefrom theNuyorican PoetsCafe and writers associated with it.Bothcollectionswere co-editedby Miguel Algarn,a Nuyorriqueo, who is one of the founders ofthePoetsCafe.In 1975, he and cofounder also known MiguelPinero, as the"Philosopher oftheCriminal Mind"(Algarn and Holman507),published thecollection An Anthology Rican Words and FeelNuyorican Poetry: ofPuerto Almost in1994, teamed theAnglo-Amerlater, ings. years twenty Algarn up with icanpoetry slamhostBob Holman;together outtheAmerican Book they brought Aloud:Voices theNuyorican PoetsCafe. Award-winning from anthology The publication datesofthesetwoanthologies mark a periodin American cultural when- in 1975- theimportance ofethnic in poetry nationalism had history was begunto waneand when- in 1994- transethnic performance poetry already at its peak. In 1975,the mostinfluential cultural nationalist poet,the AfricanAmerican writer Amiri PoetsCafe,hadjust Baraka,a closeallyoftheNuyorican distanced himself from hisnationalist attitude and entered hisThird World MarxistPeriod.1994saw theNuyorican PoetsCafe'sslamheyday with Bob Holman, whowas "volunteer SlamHost" from theCafe'sfirst slamon November 3 poetry of 1989 untilthe triumph of Saul Williams as Grand Slam Championin 1996 and Wozencraft when"the total 134,131). Duringthesesevenyears, (Stratton number of poetry in theUnitedStates- especially the "percentage of readings" nonacademic the Nuyorican Poets Cafe was readings"-increased dramatically,

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

14

Harald Zapf

mostinstrumental in popularizing (134). In his "Slam Diaries" Bob Holpoetry mansays, with a certain amount ofself-praise anda senseofcounter-cultural, nonthatthe reopening of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in commercial self-importance, 1989was "a morepotent benchmark" for the"riseinpoetry's status" thanMTV's in 1992 and 1994 in and Wozencraft Word: shows Stratton Spoken Unplugged (qtd. If at the Poets over the from 1975 to we look back Cafe, 136). Nuyorican span a of ethnic with certain remwe can on the one hand, place awareness, 1994, see, ofa necessary butsomewhat belated(Latino)cultural nants and,on nationalism, from the towards a venue with an orientationtheother hand, right beginningoralpoetry, which makesit a forerunner (in 1975) and a protagonist (in 1994) of In inter-American verse whatis called "performance culture, ethnicity poetry." with theNuyorican. are inextricably linked andperformance a mixture of'New York'and 'PuertoRican,'that is a hybrid word, 'Nuyorican' Ac"New World Border" an interAmerican (Guillermo Gmez-Pea).1 signifies of refers to a to Ilan Stavans's 2003-dictionary Spanglish, "Nuyorican" cording of to the different shades inthemainland" "Puerto Ricanperson (181). Compared in hisintroductions to thetwoanmeaning givento theterm byMiguelAlgarin In folsounds rather neutral and this definition 1975, Algarin imprecise. thologies, he used"Nuyminoritarian loweda morepoliticized, discourse-strategy: typically in a positive and affirmative had originally been a negative which term, orican," theterm toAlgarin, Ed Moralessaysthat, Voice contributor according Village way. from whatthey considthemselves as a wayofdistancing "wascoinedbyislanders EnRican-ness. versions ofPuerto eredto be inferior Nuyoricans speaktoo much oftheisland, and[. ..] areuninvolved cultural heroes haveforgotten thegreat glish, to thefirst was orient1975-introduction initspolitics" anthology (212). Algarin's in the PuertoRican community ed aroundclass-consciousness, ethnocentricity, musicaround so-called New Yorkand- likemuchof today's underground rap wassupposed torefer to "the andstreet localauthenticity "Nuyorican" credibility: Pinero of New York" and on the streets of Puerto Ricans 15); (Algarin experience which theterm also had an overtsocioeconomic questioned meaning, implicitly strata of and accusedthemiddleand upper-class theAmerican system capitalist that is a slave class "The colonization: of internal American Nuyorican society scale" (Algarin, oftheearning for dollars at thelowest trades hours "Nuyorirung
1 Gmez-Pea's borto theU.S./Mexican piece "The New WorldBorder"refers performance cultural to theNuyorican is also an apt one forreferring thattheterm der,butI think space,because the word'border'can be used in a more figurative way.See, forexample,Ed Morales's the "Thereis,ofcourse, to his book the introduction Manifesto," Livingin Spanglish: "Spanglish theliteral border, regionof theRio Grande,whereMexicoblursintotheUnitedStatesand vice ofcultures takesplace thatmakesup awkward an obviousand often versa.At theborder, mixing of North the territory But the borderalso existsdeep within idea of Spanglish. the superficial borderthatis expressed America,now more than ever,in its major cities;it is an imported That is the Spanglish of cultures. recombination a dynamic, way.[...] Spancontinuing through norNorth LatinAmerican of in-betweenness where the is the ultimate beingneither space glish but a not ambivalence, we are expressing is negotiated. Whenwe speak in Spanglish American as ourselvesand the mainstream, of redefining thathas the possibility new regionof discourse ofassimilation and American-ness" wisdom wellas negating theconventional 95). (4,

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

in Spanglish and Performance: VerseCulture Ethnicity Bilingualism

15

can Literature" terms we can saythat 1994-definition of 15). In Marxist Algarin's is less concerned with theeconomic base ofsociety; it is less overtly 'Nuyorican' moreinclusive andculture-oriented. In hisintroduction toAloud,Algarpolitical, ingivesa definition infour The first twoare still intunewith much the parts. very traditional of 'Nuyorican'; transhowever, meaning partthreeand four, clearly theoldersemantic bounds oftheterm. Partone andtwoevokethe1960sand gress ethnic thesetwopartsof thedefinition are 70s,theera of different movements; concerned with a distinctive of 4a raza' and therefore stress constituting identity and appearance. I quotepartone ofthedefinition of aesthetics, origins, language, Puerto Rican for those of Puerto Rican 'Nuyorican': "Originally epithet heritage borninNewYork:their was different their Spanish (Spanglish), wayofdressand look weredifferent. the Theywerea stateless people (likemostU.S. poets)until Cafebecametheir and two: "After and a homeland"; part Algarin Pinero, proud NewYorkPuerto Rican"(Algarin and Holman5). The endofpart poetspeaking one invites us to associate with Chcanosand their homeland Aztln, Nuyoricans with theJewish and or with andmigrants in Israel, diaspora postcolonial diasporas The "like most U.S. in one hints at the general. comparison poets" part already transethnic oftheterm inpart ofthedefinition. three Here, expansion 'Nuyorican' inpartthree, refers to "a denizen of the Poets Cafe" 'Nuyorican' Nuyorican (AlandHolman5). So anyperson that is found inthis garin particular place,anybody who'inhabits,' 'resides theNuyorican PoetsCafe,is called in,'or simply frequents without ethnic Presenceis thecriterion, notdescent: 'Nuyorican,' qualifications. "It ain'twhereyoufrom, it'swhereyou at."2Partfourof Algarin's definition"NewYork'sriches"-takesus backto theeconomic base oftheterm, butwith an ironic turn and Holman5). By identifying with"abundant (Algarin 'Nuyorican' with ofmoney," "valuable"or "precious wealth," "beautiful," "largeamounts possessions" a hybrid, a double-voiced in Bakhtin's Algarin givestheterm meaning two or moreperspectives and worldviews sense,because it combines (Bakhtin is that ifyouare economically 429):one ofthepossible readings pooryoucan still be culturally rich. However we interpret this short ofthedefinition, we see the part common ethnic mentioned above:a term that minority-strategy already originally hadnegative connotations is usedina positive way. Another term with connotations ofethnic consciousness andself-confipositive denceis 'Loisaida,'a Nuyorican word that refers to Loiza, "a townin Spanglish Puerto Rico that is widely as the heart of African culture on theisacknowledged land" (Morales101),and especially to Manhattan's LowerEast Side,which became a PuertoRicanghetto in the1950s.'Loisaida' supposedly is "a creation of BimboRivas"(Algarin and Holman26). In Alous "Noteson thePoets," Rivas, whodied in 1992,is presented as theone who "laid downthelawsofNuyorican aesthetics forTheater and Poetry" are a Loisaida-mural (507). Amonghisworks on Avenue between 5thand6thstreet andan apostrophic "Lolyric poemtitled
2 "It ain'twhere it'swhereyouat" is a quotation ofnon-Nuyorican It is a line youfrom, origin. from "In theGhetto," a textbytheAfrican-American rapperRakim."In the Ghetto"is on the albumLettheRhythm Hit'Em,which cameoutin 1990whenRakimstillformed a Hip Hop group with Eric B. together

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

16

Harald Zapf

of apostrophe Jonathan Culler'sdefinition and lyric isaida."If we follow poetry, are also spokenbythereadwe start outfrom theidea "that unlike novels, lyrics, a fictive, er" and assumethatapostrophe discursive event"insteadof "produces likeRivas's"Loian event(Pursuit xv,153).So whenwe reada lyric representing thewords, we temporarily theposition" we utter saida,""aloudor silently, occupy Loso that in the "act of ofthebilingual we,too,engage (xv), addressing" speaker the in now" we the isaida; (xv,153): express following "apostrophic
LowerEast Side I Love You you'remyladyfair whereI am no matter ofyou! I think and the The mountains cannotcompare, valleys mylove to you Loisaida,I love you! I digthewayyoutalk I digthewayyoulook me vacilatucantar y yo me las juego fria pa'que viva para siempre, En mimente, miamada, yo te llamoLoisaida. Cuando estoylejos de ti se me acaba miesperanza En tuscallesyo me Sientomuyfelizy Saludable Loisaida,yo te quiero! Increble una mezcla,la perfecta una gentebiendecente de todasrasas que estiman que te adoran que no saben explicar lo que le pasa cuandoausentede tuscallespeligrosas si te aman Loisaida. A ti,mihermosa O whata 'hood ... evenwith yourdrug-infected playgrounds pocketparks, bloods whereouryoung around hang

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

and Performance: in Spanglish VerseCulture Ethnicity Bilingualism that waiting, hoping one daywhenthey too getwelland smileagain yourlove is all need to come around. they Loisaida,I love you. (Rivas 361-62)

17

As we also see inRivas'spoem,whenhe talksabout"una gente[...] de todasraPuertoRican sas,"the Lower East Side is not- and has neverbeen- a purely callsit"theeternally transitional neighborhood; Algarin neighborhood" (Algarin and Holman26). The LowerEast Side has alwaysbeen a multi-'racial,'-ethandmultilingual theSecondWorld WarLoisainic,-national, -cultural, area;after da also becamea truly interAmerican zone.3 known Here,in a section Spanglish as 'Alphabet the Poets is Cafe located. City,' Nuyorican On theNuyorican PoetsCafehomepage,in the'aboutus' section, we are told thattheCafewas founded around1973and thatit "beganas a living roomsalon in theEast Villageapartment" ofMiguelAlgarin. 1975 it had become "clear By thatthere weremanypoetsand too muchenergy forAlgarin's room." In living Leon Ichaso's 2001-film a about the fast of life the now defunct Pinero, biopic we getthesameimpression: founded theCafebecausehe MiguelPinero, Algarin wanted to getall thosepoetsoutofhisliving room.Thismight notbe thegospel butanyway: after deconstruction we knowthatevery is onlya trace. truth, origin The living is as as other narrative of and it room-story good any mythical origins serves itspurpose theidea ofNuyorican well,becauseit fosters probably poetry as a homemade cultural from thepeople,from theborproduct coming directly derbetween artand life. to theCafe'shomepage, in 1974or 1975AlAccording
3 In Graham the East VilHodges's articleabout the Lower East Side, which"comprehends LittleItaly, Knicklage,Chinatown, Tompkins Square,AstorPlace,and thehousing development erbocker we learnthat"someofthefirst settlers inthearea werefreeblackfarmers who Village," movedto theBouwerie.[...] The first tenements in thecity wereerectednearCorlear'sHook in settled inthenorthern section Kleindeutschland de1833,and Irishimmigrants alongtheBowery. ofHoustonStreet in the1840s.The 1880ssaw an influx ofItalians, Jews from eastvelopednorth ernEurope,Russians, and Poles.One ofthe Romanians, Ukranians, Slovaks, Greeks, Hungarians, ethnic enclaveswas a Jewish one thatin 1920had a population of400,000.[...] The neighlargest borhoodbecamethefirst section ofthecity after theSecondWorldWar,when racially integrated thousands ofblacksand PuertoRicansmovedthere.[...] Poets,writers, and musicians foundsocial tolerance and cheapfoodand housing inthenorthern which becamethecenter ofthe section, beatmovement; 4thAvenuewas soon thesiteofmany secondhand bookstores. By the1960smost Jewish and eastern had movedout oftheneighborhood, which in thefollowEuropeanresidents and the abandonment of housing. The crime, ingdecade was besetby persistent poverty, drugs, area stabilized to some degreein the 1980s,and its inexpensive attracted venturesome housing students and members ofthemiddleclass,as wellas immigrants from China,theDominicanRethePhilippines, theUnitedKingdom, In its Poland,Japan, Korea,India,and Bangladesh. public, southern reachestheLower East Side is heavily Chinese" (697). For a thorough accountof the and aesthetics oftheLowerEast Side,"theimmigrant history, culture(s), par excellence" quarter see Maffi 67.

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

18

Harald Zapf

rented a little Irishbar,theSunshine Cafeon East 6thStreet between Avegarin nue A and B, whichwas christened "The Nuyorican Poets Cafe." In 1980,it movedto a building at 236 East 3rdStreet, between Avenues and C, "in the heartof MidtownLoisaida" (Algarinand Holman 2), and closed in 1982. It thatled to thiseventis relatedto us by openedup againin 1989.The moment in the first of his introduction to the/owd-anthology, a pathos-ridAlgarin part den account the time from the last of Pinero to his covering days Miguel'Miky' wake in 1988.Algarin's evokes a moment of still free from story past harmony, and thelatertension between ethnocentric transethnic Nuyorican Nuyorpoetry to Algarin, itwas Bob Holmanwhotookthe icanperformance poetry. According initiative to reopentheCafe; Holmansays,he "had been traveling around, getinto the and "wanted to start a club" modality" (qtd. in Kane ting rap-is-poetry 206). Algarinwritesthat Holman approachedhim at Piero's wake saying, and Miky is it'stimeto reopentheCafe.Thisis themoment, youknow, "'Miguel, we are Let's move on let's the Poets on and it, it, ready. open Nuyorican insisting and Holman8). After theCafein 1989,Holman Cafeagain'"(Algarin reopening after a bad and Algarin worked till1996,whenHolmanleft, together apparently with In hisbookPoeticCulture, Beach follows a VilChristopher quarrel Algarin. fromOctober7, 1997 -"Grand Slam: The Last Wordat the lage Voice-article Nuyorican" byEd Morales- and attributes
desireto preserve theLatinorootsof thecafeand thesplitto a clashbetweenAlgarin's to a widerand moremulticultural audience.HolHolman'sdesireto bring theNuyorican - does notseem to have convinced - "We are all Nuyoricans" some memman'sslogan whomayfeelthattheorigbersoftheLatinocommunity, including Algarin, supposedly more MTV-oriented inal idea of the cafe has been co-optedby Holman and a slicker, of group poets.(216)

ofhispublicand is contrary to parts If all thisis true, opinion Algarin's personal In of 'Nuyoriits definition of theCafe and goals. Algarin's published depiction "We are all we can see that the which I and above, can,' slogan quoted analyzed himself. And not but also was by Algarin onlyspreadby Holman, Nuyoricans" first websitetoday, which lists whenwe accesstheNuyorican Algarin amongthe Holwithout even mentioning President" "Board of Directors"as "Founding Holman withdrew that man'sname,we gettheparadoxical although impression ofthewebsitewe do notfind In the'aboutus' section he had wonthebattle. any PuertoRican Latinoroots;inof preserving statement theimportance stressing venuethat of theCafe is to createa multi-cultural steadwe read: "The mission we Without a variety ofartistic works. artists andexhibits bothnurtures limitation, In with accessfor thewidest a stagefor thearts toproviding arededicated public." PoetsCafe at theNuyorican Beach wrote thatanygivennight 1999Christopher and from New YorkUniversity, students outaspiring teenagepoets, "might bring from middle-class whites willinclude theaudience Queens bards; Beat-generation andvistheLowerEast Side,blacksfrom Latinosfrom andBensonhurst, uptown, Los from itorswho have come to thismecca of slampoetry Angeles, Chicago, from the Cafe's dense,almostdailyprogram Boston,or Dublin" (119). Judging inthepresent andbroadrange ofactivities (i. e.,inJune 2004),we can assumethat

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

in Spanglish VerseCulture and Performance: Ethnicity Bilingualism

19

it stillsucceedsin attracting a socially and ethnically diverse crowd.Today, the PoetsCafe"mainly is a forum for theperform"Nuyorican nonprofit organization for film andvideo, andtheater, andprosereadings, music, ingarts, comedy poetry slamandperformance and Hip Hop. poetry, It is notsurprising that sections Hip Hop is one ofthemost integrative program oftheNuyorican PoetsCafe, becauseHip Hop,an immensely andmulhybridized artform,4 is themostimportant cultural matrix for arttilingual many performing iststoday, foryoungAfricanAmerican slamand performance especially poets. Even ifsomeofthem, likePaul Beatty or Saul Williams, refuse to be called 'rap with culture and were influenced more poets,' they grew up Hip Hop byrapthan conventional written In his invocation' to the Bob by poetry. Aloud-anthology, Holmanalso stresses therap-connection:
RAP IS POETRY- and itsspokenessenceis central to thepopularization ofpoetry. Rap is taking itsplace,aloud,as a newpoeticform, withancient roots.Hip hop is a culgriot turalthroughline forthe Oral Tradition. Wordgoes public!Poetry has founda way to drillthrough thewax thathad been collecting fordecades! Poetry is no longer an exhibit in a Dust Museum.Poetry is alive;poetry is allowed.(1-2)5

or slam poetry are closelyintertwined, at the Rap and performance especially which becamefamous foritsPoetry Slam program. A 'poetry slam' Nuyorican, can be defined as an eventthat"involves a groupof poets" performing "their workto an audience- members ofthisaudiencethenscorethepoet'spoemand to anyother form performance" (Kane 203).Thismakesslampoetry-incontrast ofliterary evento poetry where theaudienceremains 'communication,' readings in thestrict event senseoftheterm where quiet- an interactive sociological presenceis a sinequa non.TheNuyorican PoetsCafepresents over90 slamsandelects a "Nuyorican Grand Slam Champion"everyyear (2004: Daniel Beaty). The slamsare mock-Olympic contests weekly poetry "judgedby people selectedat random from theaudience," to the 'about us' section oftheCafe'shome according The in "will rate the zero ('a page. judges,Algarin explains Aloud, poem from that should never have been to ten simultaneous orpoem written') ('mutual the decimal to avoid ties" The main gasm') using 'Dewey rating system' (16). eventevery weekis the"Friday Slam Mistress" Slam,"hostedby "Poetry Night KarenJaime. after theslamevery there is an event called"The Right Friday night, a poem and read.A wayof qualifying for Open Room" whenanyonecan bring winners of a Wednesday Fridayis the "Open Slam" everyWednesday: Night In hisintroduction to theAloudOpen are thenallowedto slamon Friday night.
4 RZA's CD The World to RZA, forexample,documents the multilingual dimenAccording sion of transnational artists in Scandinavian and African Hip Hop culture by featuring rapping in Turkish, and German.In thebookletof his CD, theAfriItalian,English, French, languages, can-American and rapperRZA saysthathe "seeksto provethatthere is no boundaries producer or barriers in Hip Hop." 5 Please notetheword"allowed"at theend of this of quote.It is quiteironicthata promoter oralpoetry and the'Au-/Oral Tradition' uses a homophone a literary devicethatonlyworks here, whenitis seen and read,wherethedifference between "A-1-o-u-d" and "a-11-o-w-e-d" can onlybe in spelling and writing. perceived

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

20

Harald Zapf

for theseOpen Nights havebecome"thetrial Algarn saysthat ground anthology, oftheFriday 'slammers' to practice theblinding awayfrom spotlight night Poetry a 'virgin' Slams.[...] The Open Roomis where stepsto becompoettakesthefirst and Holman to Algarn, the a 26-27).According ing performing poet" (Algarn was there from the Room" is one of the ideas that right begin"Open founding oftheNuyorican PoetsCafein 1974: ning
thehostsoftheroomweremainly In theearlydaysoftheCafe (1974-1982), Miguel'LoAt theend ofthebar,Lobo or I wouldstandwitha ledbo' Loperenaand Lois Griffith. in order enterthenamesofthepeople whocame to perform gerand a penciland simply in fortheevening couldbe precededbya firstofarrival, so thata famous poet dropping timepoet. (Algarnand Holman23)

contribtheNuyorican PoetsCafehasalways illustrates that Thisnarrative greatly is certainly true: ithas always which ofverseculture, utedto thedemocratization has been fostered and has always beenopento commonality Democracy equality. inthetwopoetry also becomesevident a constancy at theCafe,which anthologies belief in theprinthereadernotices a strong from 1975and 1994.In thesebooks, ofan ' within a community. and theexpression for theindividual cipleofrespect which is basically a poetry inNuyorican ThisT is immensely poetry, important issue but also a rather of theself, wherepoeticvoiceis a central complex aspect with vocaland lingual connected race,class,and ethnicity, diversity, performance, I changed and the first to the second From the lyric anthology Nuyorican gender. monovocalism to shift of from that there was a It can be said emphasis developed. as an from to and from multivocalism, bilingualism monolingualism, bilingualism free of performance and genuinely as a matter to bilingualism ethnicfeature of in the I will to show as choice, poreadings paradigmatic following partial try andAloud. from emstaken Nuyorican Poetry forexamplein MiguelAlgarin's In thefirst poem "MongoAffair," anthology, resembles the T that ethnic is a particular thespeaker bilingual Nuyorican closely case of autoof a straightforward The impression poet ofPuertoRican descent. thefirst oftheT with is evokedbytheidentification self-expression biographical and theconame of thepoet. In the following passage,even thepoet's friends addressed PoetsCafeareexplicitly founders oftheNuyorican (Miguel'Miguelito' and BimboRivas): Pinero, LuckyCienfuegos,
viejo que has vistola isla sus hijos perder are there gunsto deal with expatriation? genocide, armsto hold are there theexodusofborinqueos from Borinquen? we havebeen moved we have been shipped we have been parcelposted first bywaterthenbyair el correohas specialprices to be forthe"low islandelement"

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

and Performance: in Spanglish VerseCulture Ethnicity Bilingualism thendumped removed, intotheinner-city ghettos Viejo,Viejo,Viejo we are theminority herein Borinquen we,thePuertoRican, manofthisisland theoriginal is in theminority I writhe with pain I jumpwith anger I know I see I am "la minora de la isla" viejo,viejoanciano do youhearme? there are no morePuertoRicans in Borinquen I am theminority everywhere I am amongthefewin all societies I belongto a tribe ofnomads thatroamtheworldwithout a place to call a home, there is no place thatis ALL MINE there is no place thatI can call micasa, I, yo,MiguelMe oyesviejo! I, yo,Miguel el hijode Maria Socorroy Miguel is homeless, has been homeless willbe homeless in theto be and theto come Bimbo Miguelito, Lucky, youlikeme have lost yourhome(Algarn, "MongoAffair" 54-55)

21

Thispassage- with itsthree addressees anditsgenealogical dimensionbilingual createsgroupsolidarity. The fourth addresseeof the poem is "a black Puerto Rican"from theIsland,a "viejonegroafricano" inthe (53). So three participants discoursethe the and the addresseesto an alpoem's poet, speaker, belong mostcompletely as far as Puerto Rican descent and homogeneous group, origin are concerned. the readeror listener of the poem, Onlythefourth participant, couldalso be non-Puerto The ability of an Rican,forexampleAnglo-American. readeror listener to understand whatthe speakersays wouldbe English-only somewhat because the speaker'sbilingualism makes communication limited, moredifficult. he has also something to sayto thedomiNevertheless, important nant ofAmerican for aboutthepostcolonial social Anglosection society, example condition oflower-class PuertoRicanmales.Concerning thespeaker's bilingualshowsthat-contrary to whatDoris Sommer writes in her ism,"MongoAffair"

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

22

Harald Zapf

intwoormorecompeting bookBilingual Aesthetics"living languages" inspiring of romantic nationalism and does not necessarily "upsetthe desiredcoherence ethnic and ethnic essentialism" nationalism, (19). In Algarin's poem,bilingualism, itsPuertoRican Spanglish essentialism With speakerand poet, go welltogether. correlation betweenbilingualism and a people. the poem impliesa one-to-one inthesecondanthology, where theidea ofa "newinternationalism," Thischanges verseculture, thecultural nationala truly interAmerican supersedes postethnic ismofthefirst (20). anthology is no longIn hisintroduction to Aloud,Algarin saysthat"Nuyorican language ina blendofEnglish andSpanish" ertheproperty ofPuerto Ricansspeaking (20). Rican U.S.of non-Puerto He praisesthe bold "multilingual expressiveness" other thanEnglish and involvwhoare "confronting American artists languages in other forms of speech" in of themselves the exploration self-expression ing are saysenthusiastically, daring (20). "They daring," Algarin
to standbefore liveaudiencesand speak in Spanish.Theyspeak their in their willingness inthe communications intense in Spanish.[...] Theyare [...] attempting complex feelings on aboutaccentsor mispronunciation. Theyare intent Spanishlanguageand are fearless Gone are the of the endless into [...] days expressiveness. possibility multilingual diving forNorthAmericanartists. whenEnglishwould remainthe onlymeans of expression Literature" 20) ("Nuyorican

used Spanishin hisperformance An AfricanAmerican poetwhohas sometimes recite someofthemost he can,from work is Reg E. Gaines.Apparently memory, and MiguelPinero poemsbyLuckyCienfuegos Spanishand bilingual important artist inthesecondanandHolman20). Another from themid-seventies (Algarin that is usuusesa language andpoeticperformances whoinherowntexts thology American female is theAfricanwith herethnic poet identity allynotassociated and the1993National GrandSlam Champion the1992Nuyorican TracieMorris, I: is spokenbya bilingual Her poem"Morenita" HaikuSlamChampion. lyric
morenita menhavenamedyou . . . . . . Morenita, Not Latina.Morenita. chiquita Negrita de Estados Unidos. Ese pas. word different Same world, or curse. Black.A compliment thiscountry I, a girlfrom one identity. at peace with

[...]
Not negrita, theLoot, same boat. Das Boot, Root ofall evil.

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

and Performance: in Spanglish VerseCulture Ethnicity Bilingualism overto screw. Brought African have more girls corpsesperload over.

23

[...]
In Brazil(notBahia) Therewas queryofmyparentage. "Pardo,uh,pardonme. Whosegenesare youwearing?"
[]

Negra.No Latina. Pardo?Mulata?No. Africana. FromSavannahand other places ofthestatein GA. Mmm.Ay,Dios, Mmm, Mmm, I say,Unexplained. The same Morenita way.

[-]
Geechiecoastmy mostimmediate possession. Ceremonial tiedlessons wherebi-lingual means tongue-speaking no one had to teach. Ones sungon beaches thought faraway. freed drums Reaching in advance ofSimonPaul's rehashed dance. Morenitas sing, Remembering. Yoruba,Kongo. So muchmoreto Morenita thanthisside ofthesea. Me. Fromthiscountry. Negrita chiquita little Black girl de ese pas. Morenita oftheworld . . . Morenita, morenita. (102-06)

an African-American and Spanish in her By staging bilingual speakerofEnglish Morris and visually in an even more performance, questions-verbally certainly theset of attributes ascribed to different ethnic impressive waythanin writingIt is remarkable that in a about and here, poem groups. identity descent, bilingual-

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

24

Harald Zapf

ismis no longer linked with and a specific cultural Hispanic heritage ("biidentity means/tongue-speaking /no one had to teach").In "Morenita," lingual bilingualismdoes notrefer tomembers ofan ethnic ina particular historical context, group forexample to PuertoRicanswhomovedto New York'sLowerEast Side sometimeafter theSecondWorld Warand thenspokeSpanish and English. The functionof bilingualism is not representational but performative. which Spanglish, be a of a ethnic is not might majorpart speaker's identity, performed, expressed. In Algarn's itisjusttheopposite. "MongoAffair," An in-between text is NtozakeShange's which is lo"Porqueno estsconmigo," section titled Poems." The of catedinAlous third "Founding incorporation a selection ofpoemsbytheAfricanAmerican author NtozakeShangeintothissectionstresses the Nuyorican Poets Cafe's traditionally AfricanAmerican strong butitis also a signofthemorerecent AfricanAmericanization ofthe connection, Ricanfoundations ofearly is in Puerto featured Aloud, Nuyorican poetry: Shange from butnotin Algarn's first 1975.In theearlycollection, Nuyorican anthology to present a 'pure'and homogeneous wanted Algarin probably imageofNuyoriand canness. In Aloud,he and Holmandiversified theorigins of Nuyoricanness In this itis notsurstressed theperformance context, poetry. aspectofNuyorican - a performance that NtozakeShange la lettre, whoseneologism prising poetavant linkstheatricality and textualityis listedamongPuertoRican "choreopoem" is foundational poem"Porqueno estsconmigo" Nuyorican poets.Her bilingual to thePuertoRicanbornsonto a legendofHispanicperforming dedicated arts, intoherEnde los cantantes." erHectorLavoe,"el cantante Byweaving Spanish heroof popularLatinoculture. thismusical "My song Shangehonors glishtext, forHectorLavoe" begins and endslikethis:
ifhector Wilson lavoe is notJackie whosingsyouto sleep at night? in whosearmsdid yousleep wellor not?tellme cuz i've racedthru streets and dreamskept undercover byinterpol and thestatepolice i've been heldin a folks swearneverexisted why and toda la genteconose coro as faras thearchipelago lavoe el seorhector mira tpuedesirconmigo hastamanagua& theearthquake was no morea surprise thanyou con tuvoz que vienede los dioses and theswivelofthehipsde su flaca as youdanceor whenshe sucksthehearts outoftheeggsof tortugas

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

and Performance: in Spanglish VerseCulture Ethnicity Bilingualism

25

i askedJackie wilson and he said "we can'tdo widout him he'sjustlikeme."(366-68)

of bilingualism is representational. The personto whomthe Here,thefunction relates is a Puerto Rican male who,against his father's wishes, speaker closely movedto NewYorkon May3, 1963at theage ofseventeen andbecamean artist. Just as in Algarn's thepointof reference and thestandard for "MongoAffair," is a certain cultural with a ethnic and hiscomparison producer particular identity ofmigration; butin Shange'spoemwe do notknowforsure, ifthespeaker tory also expresses his/her ownbilingual or if he/she identity 'only'performs bilingualforexample in admiration forLavoe's Nuyorican cultural I arachievement. ism, that the use of is motivated the addressee and that bigue speaker's Spanglish by is a matter of relational rhetoric here. The name of the Africanlingualism American soulsinger Jackie whoin 1963"stoodon aboutequal footing" Wilson, with Sam Cooke as "R&B prince," as staroftherhythm & bluesworld(George thespeaker's AfricanAmerican to the readerofthepoem. 77), suggests identity Looked at in thisway, is in order to createa Nuyorican/ bilingualism performed AfricanAmericanintercultural of the of earthiness and paradigm expression one's ethnicpride,deepest thoughts, and feelings. By metaphorically linking La voe with between Puerto RicanNuyorican Wilson, Shangeevokesa connection culture and theemotional and spiritual depth("tu voz /que vienede los dioses") ofblackAmerican culture. In conclusion, I wouldliketo drawa distinction between twodifferent tendencies in Nuyorican someof it- suchas BimboRivas's"Loisaida,"Miguel poetry: and arguably mostof the earlyNuyorican work- is Algarn's "Mongo Affair," based on serious monovocal and theactuality ofa given expressiveness bilingual someofit- suchas themorecontemporary work identity; Nuyorican byperformerslikeReg E. Gainesand TracieMorris extent, ("Morenita")and,to a certain NtozakeShange's"Porqueno ests conmigo"-playfully brings up the issue of andbilingualism as performance. Tracie whois currently linguistic Morris, identity on a dissertation on and J. L. Austin's term of the has working rap performative, eventurned and has recently awayfrom performing bilingualism gotmoreinterestedin soundpoetry. Between1975and 1994,theinfluence of bilingual Latino on verse culture at the Poets Cafe but poets Spanglish diminished, the Nuyorican loss of was often a gradual lingual diversity accompanied by gaininvocalandperformative as Aloud-texts artists like Morris, Gaines, complexity, by MaggieEstep, or EvertonSylvester show.Since 1994,thepresenceof bilingual Latinosat the PoetsCafehasbecomesomewhat butperformance Nuyorican stronger again, poinEnglish still tends to predominate. etry

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

26

Harald Zapf WorksCited

andCultural Edna. "BeyondIslandBoundaries: Acosta-Beln, Gender, Ethnicity, inNuyorican Literature." Callaloo 15.4(1992):979-98. Revitalization - . "TheLiterature RicanMigration intheUnitedStates: An AnnoofthePuerto ADE Bulletin 91 (1988):56-62. tatedBibliography." Literature." MELUS 8.2 (1981):89-92. Algarin, Miguel."Nuyorican Lois eds. Action: TheNuyorican PoetsCafeTheater and Griffith, Algarin, Miguel, Festival. NewYork:Touchstone, 1997. theNuyorican Poets and Bob Holman,eds.Aloud: Voices from Algarin, Miguel, York: 1994. New Holt, Cafe. eds.Nuyorican An Anthology and MiguelPinero, Poetry: ofPuAlgarin, Miguel, New York:Morrow, 1975. erto RicanWords and Feelings. An Anthology Nuyorican Poetry: of Puerto Algarin, Miguel."Mongo Affair." New York: Ed. MiguelAlgarin and MiguelPinero. RicanWords and Feelings. 1975.54-55. Morrow, in Disparatem:Bilingualism Aparicio,FrancesR. "La Vida Es un Spanglish on HispanicLiterature oftheUnitEuropeanPerspectives Nuyorican Poetry." 1988.147-60. TX: ArtePblico, ed States. Ed. Genvive Fabre.Houston, and MichaTrans. Emerson Mikhail M. TheDialogicImagination. Bakhtin, Caryl Austin: U ofTexasP,1981. el Holquist. Ed. MichaelHolquist. AmericanPoetrybetween Poetic Culture:Contemporary Beach, Christopher. & Modernism Studies.Evanston, and Institution. Avant-Garde Community IL: Northwestern UP, 1999. PoetsCafe:LinKevin."FromBlackMountain Bezner, Collegeto theNuyorican Rein Postmodern Cincinnati and Poetry Poetry." eage,Tradition, Community 26 (1995):77-86. view inNewYork,a PoPuerto RicanPoetry "'A Midnight Binder, Reality': Wolfgang. Literature on of Dreams." of theUnited EuropeanPerspectives Hispanic etry TX: ArtePblico, 1988.22-32. Fabre.Houston, Ed. Genvive States. - . "Die Nordwanderung Amerikanische und ihreLiteratur." der Puertoricaner und unterdrckter Zur Literatur Gettoliteratur: ethnischer, Gruppen marginaler Wissenschaftliche Darmstadt: Ed. Berndt Ostendorf. inAmerika. Buchgesell1983.323-55. schaft, and ModernPuertoRican Authors: Arnaldo."Teaching Cruz-Malav, Identity ADE Bulletin 91 (1988):45-51. Texts." ization inNuyorican oftheLyric." Jonathan. Culler, Poetry: BeyondNew Lyric "Changesin theStudy Ed. ChavivaHoek and PatriciaParker.Ithaca,NY: CornellUP, Criticism. 1985.38-54. - . Literary NewYork:Oxford A Very Introduction. Short UP,2000. Theory: - -. ThePursuit ed. IthDeconstruction. Literature, Semiotics, Augmented ofSigns: 2002. NY: Cornell UP, aca, The Case of American a Comparative Den Tandt, Catherine. Project: "Tracing 25.1(1995):46-62. Rico."diacritics Qubec and Puerto HiEm. LP. MCA, 1990. EricB. & Rakim.LettheRhythm

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

in Spanglish VerseCulture and Performance: Ethnicity Bilingualism

27

orActivism from theNuyorican SandraMaria."Ambivalence Estves, Perspective ThePuerto Ed. inPoetry." andIdentities: Ricanin TwoWorld Contexts. Images de Laguna.NewBrunswick, 1987.164-70. Asela Rodriguez NJ:Transaction, in theUnitedStates:Stagesand Perspec"PuertoRicanLiterature Juan. Flores, ADE Bulletin tives." 91 (1988):39-44. and the Nuyorican EdwardHalsey."Bob Holman,Performance Foster, Poetry, 2.2 993): 46-48. PoetsCaf."Multicultural Review Nelson.TheDeathofRhythm & Blues.NewYork:Pantheon, 1988. George, of Alan. "Recent American and the Idea the'MainGolding, Poetry Anthologies stream.'" and Culture. Ed. Andrew Michael Roberts Poetry Contemporary andJonathan Allison. 2002. 123-40. UP, Edinburgh: Edinburgh Yves-Charles. "De l'Alination la Dissidence:Les PotesNuyoriGrandjeat, de Dissidences. cains."Les Etats-Unis: Ed. JeanPierre Martin. Conformismes Aix-en-Provence: de Provence, 1987.59-75. Universit Dieter."Chicanoand Nuyorican LiteratureElements of a Democratic Herms, in theU.S. of A.?" EuropeanPerspectives and Socialist Culture on Hispanic Literature the United States. Ed. Genvive Fabre. TX: ArtePbliHouston, of co, 1988.118-29. Ed. of New YorkCity. Hodges,Graham."LowerEast Side." The Encyclopedia T. Jackson. New Haven,CT: Yale UP,1995.696-97. Kenneth TheLowerEast Side Poetry Scenein the1960s. Kane,Daniel.All PoetsWelcome: U ofCalifornia P,2003. Berkeley: Mario.Gateway tothePromised Land: Ethnic Cultures inNew York's LowMaffi, erEastSide.NewYork:NewYorkUP,1995. Ed. Livingin Spanglish: The Searchfora LatinoIdentity in America. Morales, NewYork:St.Martin's 2002. Griffin, Carlos."Nuyorican Theatre." Drama Review 20.1(1976):43-49. Morton, PoetsCafe.8 June 2004<http://www.nuvorican.org>. Nuyorican Pinero. Dir. Leon Ichaso.Perf. Bratt. 2001.DVD. Highlight, 2003. Benjamin Resources ofthe'Nuyoricans' or Return Pousada,Alicia."Los de All: Linguistic Revista/Review Interamericana 19.3-4 Migrants." (1989):50-61. and Tato Laviera. "Tato Laviera'sNuyorican The Rauline,Vronique, Poetry: ChoiceofBilingualism." in Modern Ed. Pierre Strategies ofDifference Poetry. NJ:Fairleigh Dickinson Madison, UP,1998.146-63. Lagayette. Poets Cafe. Ed. Rivas,Bimbo. "Loisaida." Aloud: VoicesfromtheNuyorican and Bob Holman. New York: 1994. 361-62. Holt, MiguelAlgarin RZA. TheWorld toRZA. CD. Virgin, 2003. According Doris.Bilingual Aesthetics: A NewSentimental Education. NC: Sommer, Durham, Duke UP,2004. Ilan. Spanglish: The Makingof a New American Stavans, Language.New York: 2003. Harper, and KimWozencraft, eds.Slam.NewYork:Grove, 1998. Richard, Stratton,

This content downloaded from 148.206.53.9 on Sat, 22 Feb 2014 06:54:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions