Overview

Edited by Paz De Cuba and Paul S. Flores, this bilingual anthology in English and Spanish collects poetry featured in Cuba's first licensed poetry slam, registered with the World Poetry Slam Organization, the Àṣẹ Poetry Slam. English translation by Paul S. Flores. Foreword by Paul S. Flores. Featuring poetry by: Luz De Cuba, Yordanis Febles Lazo, Anderson ""Andy"" Ruiz, Plácido Pasillo (Roy Hall Delgado), Irina Rodríguez, Emily Dumois, Gertrudis Durán Limonta, Max Fonseca, Liober Griñán, Thalía Morán, and Papagoza (Andreis Mendoza). ""Àṣẹ Poetry Slam: Cuban Slam Poets Anthology is a testament to the power of the spoken word in Cuba. Curated with the spirit of rhythm, resistance, and revolution, this anthology amplifies the voices of slam poets who blend ancestral wisdom, Afro beats, and poetic fire. An important and necessary collection that honors the roots of oral tradition while shaping the future of Cuban poetry."" -Danny Glover, Actor/Activist ""Discover yourself in this new discovery-multivisions reflect the world in recognition of themselves. The best of new Cuban poetry from spoken word to rap to slam to suave can be found here. Re: Discover América in all her heart/beat son."" -Lorna Dee Cervantes, author of Emplumada, winner of the American Book Award and From the Cables of Genocide: Poems on Love and Hunger, winner of the Latino Literature Prize and the Paterson Poetry Prize ""In the pages of Àṣẹ Poetry Slam: Cuban Slam Poets Anthology, culture and history align, giving readers rewards of truth and conviction. Brought together with sensitive translations, the collection widens understanding between islands, continents, language and feelings. Edited by Luz De Cuba and Paul S. Flores with El Martillo Press, Àṣẹ Poetry Slam is an enormous accomplishment conveying literary art and expression from writers that need to be heard. -Francisco Letelier, Visual Artist/writer

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Reviews

""Àṣẹ Poetry Slam: Cuban Slam Poets Anthology is an empowering set of poems of self-realization, exploration, and cultural reclamation; sweet ""cups made of gourd and coconut"" in a collection of Spanish spoken word with English versions that move far beyond mere translation. There's an extra strength you gain if your ear can hear and understand poetry in more than one language-if you can hear the whispers of ancestors or the living families and histories of a sweeter time left behind. But if you know only English, take heart as I have. Your soul will still hear the canción of Cuban energy rapping through each English verse; hear what the collection's translator Paul S. Flores refers to in the book's introduction as ""the generational howl."" The poems in Àṣẹ Poetry Slam pound between personal stories and the pull of memories, inviting you to reach far back to Oshun, to Egungun-then propel you forward into the now; into the momentous urgency of voice. As you read this collection from award-winning poets, you will live through a mixture of rebeldiá and pain, el poder and love. As a woman and poet born and raised in Barbados and living in the diaspora of the US, I understand the voices in Àṣẹ Poetry Slam: Cuban Slam Poets Anthology. If you're not of the region, by the time you reach the last poem, you will understand too. Àṣẹ! Slam, Slam, Slam."" -Lynda V. E. Crawford, author of Washing Water (World Stage Press) ""Oscuridad luminosa teje estas páginas entrañablemente. Hijxs volcánicas de los Orishas: multi-colored birds (on a cage?) or just atomic whispers, screams and roars cocooned in an ancestral guava tree... Let this earthquake of a book blossom in your heart. And let's march/dance/dream/slam along with all this wisdom and stories that beams from Cuba."" -Rojo Córdova, espokenworista, polinizador interdisciplinario and Mexican slam hero

Author Information

Luz De Cuba poet, editor, slam master is an Afro-Cuban priestess and griot, Slam Master of Àse Poetry Slam, Cuba's first slam. She is a member of Abya Yala Poetry Slam and the World Poetry Slam Organization (WPSO).Creator of AfroPoeBaila, a unique ancestral and futuristic mix of spoken poetry, Afro beats, popular wisdom, feminism, electronic music, suyeres, Yoruba prayers and the interpretation of the instrument/deity Sekereo. Creator of the Poetic Chanchullo, an open mic space to promote the growth of this manifestation in Cuba and also to promote and encourage the creation and love of the Spoken Word. With more than 15 years of career, she has shared the stage with Saul Williams, Conceçao Evaristo, Paul S. Flores, Daymé Arocena, Degnis Bofill, Julio Padrón, and Negayfa, among others. She has shown her work at universities in the USA and Germany. Her work has been present in places such as Slam Poetico FLUP, Veltins Cultural Festival in Germany and was part of the European Tour Havana Cultura: ¡Súbelo Cuba! (Spain, France and England). Luz de Cuba has won awards such as the Cuerda Viva Award and the Puños Arriba Award and has collaborated on albums by Havana Cultura, Guámpara Music, and PAUZA. Co-Editor & Translator Paul S. Flores is one of the most influential Latino performance artists in the country and a nationally respected arts educator. He creates plays, oral narratives, and spoken word about transnationality and citizenship that spur and support societal movements that lead to change. Flores' ability to paint a vivid picture of the bi-cultural Latino experience is shaped by his personal background and experience growing up in Chula Vista, California, near the Mexican border. His body of work touches on the immigrant story in all its complexities: from the violent-forced migration, gang life, war, incarceration, and separated families-to zooming in on intergenerational relationships and the struggle of preserving important cultural values.As a San Francisco artist of Mexican and Cuban-American heritage, Paul S. Flores has built a national reputation for interview-based theater and bilingual spoken word. He integrates Latino and indigenous healing practices to tell the stories of real people impacted by immigration and systemic inequalities. Flores appeared on Season 3 and 4 of HBO's Def Poetry. He is the author of the plays We Have Iré, which premiered in 2019 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; PLACAS: The Most Dangerous Tattoo; and On The Hill: I Am Alex Nieto, as well as the novel Along the Border Lies which won the 2003 PEN Oakland Award. Flores is the author of the 2024 American Book Award winner We Still Be: Poems and Performances on El Martillo Press. Flores' work has played across the United States and internationally, from Def Poetry on HBO to the International Poetry Festival of La Habana, Cuba, Teatro Centenario México, and El Salvador. Paul is a Doris Duke Artist Award winner and an inaugural NALAC Catalyst for Change awardee. His commissions have come from Creative Capital, La Peña Cultural Center, MACLA, MAP Fund, Pregones Theater, Su Teatro, National Performance Network, SF Arts Commission, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and many more. Flores teaches theater at the University of San Francisco. He is the lead curator of Paseo Artistico Free Bilingual Community Art Stroll on 24th Street in the Mission District, and Co-Principal researcher for the National Institutes of Health funded project Somos Esenciales/We Are Essential with Cultura y Arte Nativo de las Americas (CANA SF). He lives in San Francisco with his children. David A. Romero is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of El Martillo Press. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press, 2020), and Diamond Bars 2 (Moon Tide Press, 2024). Romero has received honorariums from nearly a hundred colleges and universities in thirty-four different states in the USA and has also performed live in Mexico, Italy, and France. Romero's work has been published in literary magazines in the United States, Mexico, England, Scotland, Canada, and Hungary. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning bands Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia. Romero's work has been published in anthologies alongside poets laureate Joy Harjo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Luis J. Rodriguez, Jack Hirschman, and Tongo Eisen-Martin. Romero has won the Uptown Slam at the historic Green Mill in Chicago; the birthplace of slam poetry. Romero's poetry deals with family, identity, social justice issues, and Latine culture.

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