An AmeRican lesson in bilingual poetic Cha-Cha

By Manuel Vasquez
Guest Writer

As Calvin attempts to open the narrow view of the world it is surrounded by, it embraced The Hispanic Heritage month by inviting Tato Laviera, a poet, playwright, speaker, and very good workshop leader. Laviera was at the Commons Lecture Hall Tuesday, October 13th, at 12:00 p.m. He was invited by the Multicultural Development Office of Calvin as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15 . Laviera delivered a supreme act of rhetoric with his rhythms in word and his compelling voice that heated your heart as he stretched every word from his poems. He celebrated and exposed the Calvin student body to ‘AmerRicans,’ meaning someone comes from two cultures to make one, especially people of Latin American heritage who are now struggling with Anglo culture. Mr. Laviera, one of the best selling poets in the United States, is a spoken-word poet and a performer of his poetry. He loves to bring to life his poems with expression and attitude as only an ‘AmeRican’ can do. Tato was born and raised in New York City, and he defines himself as an ‘AmeRican’ because he is both a member of that vast part of the western hemisphere that speaks Spanish, and also a member of the smaller part that speaks English.

Performance poet Tato Laviera cavorted at the Commons Lecture Hall recently.
photo courtesy
Dammah Productions

Therefore, he uses the term ‘AmeRican’ to define not just the Puerto Rican part of his heritage, but also his Anglo culture. Laviera uses this term to define everyone with a ‘Dual-culture.’At the Commons Lecture Hall, there were few students there, “which is a pity because I don’t know how to call this if it’s lack of interest, poor promotion, or just plain narrow minded students here at Calvin,” said Laviera. With Laviera ’s poem “Hispano,” the students were leafed up by the rhythms Laviera brought with lines like, “Peru, ChaCHaChArRaCHa,” and “Brazil Samba.” The audience started dancing as he sang every Latin American rhythm he knew.

The students were glad they went because they learned how to appreciate Hispanic literature more and how to see properly the bilingual verses and poetry of Laviera Furthermore, several of the students that were at the lecture expressed their joy for coming because of the experience the Hispanic culture and poetry. “Calvin has only 33 Hispanics as students from which culture can not be feel fully,” said Laviera In a workshop on poetry presented by Laviera later that afternoon, he gave to his seven attendees a gift. Tato gave to them a respect for words. Laviera said, “Poetry was meant to be written and read with passion and vigor to obtain from the poem its soul.” In the workshop, people who attended were exposed to the principal of understanding the spoken rhetoric of poetry. Laviera gave two great principles for reading poetry. First principal: “Every word is a universe.

Every syllable is an expression. Every letter is an endless sound” Second principal: “You have to say it correctly. You have to stretch it out. You have to dance it. You have to put form to it.” With these verses, he said, “You can live the poem. By saying it correctly, you feel it. By you stretching it out, the poem becomes stronger. By you dancing it, the poem the lines take life of its own. By you putting form to it, the poem is yours and you live it.”The workshop ended with reading from Calvin poets and ‘Intellect’ by Tato Laviera. The Calvin College poets were animated to feel, to live, and to dance their poetry. Tato Laviera was a great exponent of Hispanic heritage and poetry.