{"id":5084405,"date":"2019-08-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlatinonews.com\/hartfords-daniel-diaz-villafane-aspires-to-be-the-latino-poet-of-his-time\/"},"modified":"2019-08-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T04:00:00","slug":"hartfords-daniel-diaz-villafane-aspires-to-be-the-latino-poet-of-his-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/2019\/08\/02\/hartfords-daniel-diaz-villafane-aspires-to-be-the-latino-poet-of-his-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Hartford's Daniel Diaz-Villafane Aspires To Be The "Latino Poet Of His Time""},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Por Bessy Reyna<\/a>, CTLatinoNews.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\/Identidad Latina<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

Danny\nDiaz-Villafane <\/strong>is a senior at the\nGreater Hartford Academy of the Arts, enrolled in the Creative Writing\/Media\nArts department. He was selected as one of the winners of the Fresh Voices\ncompetition of the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, has won the Wallace Stevens\nPoetry Scholarship two years in a row, and has already been published in two\nliterary magazines. Diaz-Villafane plans to attend the University of Hartford\nand to major in creative writing with a minor in agriculture. He hopes to\nbecome a teacher like Martin Espada<\/strong>, whose poetry and political\ncommitment have inspired him. <\/p>\n\n\n

Even at this young age, Diaz-Villafane has already mapped out what he wants to do in the future: Study for a teaching degree and own his own ranch, where he can host neighborhood writing classes to help kids from lower-income backgrounds. He credits his teachers at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Performing Arts f<\/a>or their mentoring and support. He feels that through his poetry, he can connect with a wide variety of people and make space for life’s messiness in his writing because he thinks that \u201cYou don\u2019t have to come from my neighborhood to understand my experiences because chaos is universal.” <\/p>\n\n\n

When you read the answers to my questions, you will find a very mature and caring young man, proud of his heritage; aware of life’s inequalities because of racism, and his skillful use of language to illustrate his world and share it with us.<\/p>\n\n\n

Dominican poet: Elizabeth Acevedo will be the featured poet at The Fresh Voices reading also featuring the six winners of the competition. <\/p>\n\n\n

It takes place on August 11, at 6:00 the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, Hill Stead Museum, 35 Mountain Rd in Farmington, CT. Admission is $20 per person; discounts for seniors and students. For more information visit www.hillstead.org\/sunken-garden-poetry-festival\/2019-poetry-festival\/ or call 860.677.4787 ext 140.<\/p>\n\n\n

Remember to bring a blanket, folding chairs and food.<\/p>\n\n\n

In Conversation With Poet Danny Diaz-Villafane<\/h4>\n\n\n

“If I would\u2019ve known that small writing class would have this big of an impact on my life, I would\u2019ve told myself to start a lot sooner.”<\/em> <\/p>Danny Diaz-Villafane<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

BR: Where are your parents from? Did they speak Spanish at\nhome?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: <\/strong>Well, my father was born in a hospital in Caguas but his side of the family was born in Cidra. So depending on who you ask you\u2019d get one of those answers. My mother was born in Hartford like me but my grandmother, who helped raise me, was born in Caguas and lived there for the majority of her life. My family spoke Spanish a lot more than English in my house, usually transitioning mid-sentence, which lead me to have a couple of speech impediments growing up. I was actually in speech therapy up until 5th grade. <\/p>\n\n\n

BR: Where did you grow up? what did you like to do as a kid?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: <\/strong>I was born\nin Hartford and grew up in a packed house. My grandmother, parents, and uncle\nall stuffed together from house to house. We moved around a lot. It was nice to\ngrow up in a house like that because my family was always together and it gave\nme a sense of reassurance that they would always be there. My uncle was only a\ncouple years older than me so it was like having an older brother in the house.\nI spent most of my time attached to my parents\u2019 hip. I would go outside from\ntime to time to play basketball in the back with my older cousins Joshua and\nAngel, but mostly I stayed inside watching cartoons. <\/p>\n\n\n

BR: When did you become interested in Poetry <\/strong>and Writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: <\/strong>Most of my life I planned on being an artist. My uncle Jay was a tattoo artist so watching him draw and work on my dad always interested me. I wanted to have a longing impact on someone’s life and for a while I thought tattooing was the way. Then I went to school and realized that even though I may have a talent for drawing it didn’t have the impression I wanted. When CMTs were popular, I fell in love with the writing prompts but never had the drive to pursue it outside of school until 6th grade. I transferred to the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts<\/strong> and started taking a plethora of different art classes. I dabbled in music, painting, acting, but nothing connected with me as much as my first journaling class. I was usually very talkative, but when given the time to just write and let whatever that was on my mind out, I would go dead silent and just spew everything into the small composition notebook our teacher had given us. If I would\u2019ve known that small writing class would have this big of an impact on my life, I would\u2019ve told myself to start a lot sooner.<\/p>\n\n\n

BR:  Do you have a\nFavorite poet?  Books you like to read?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: <\/strong>I spend a\nlot of my time reading anything from novels to poetry, anything that captures\nmy attention. I like collecting poetry books from various writers. However, no\none has had the biggest impact on my writing more than Martin Espada<\/strong>. My teacher Lynn\nHoffman<\/strong> introduced me to his work my freshman year when she gave me a copy\nof Alabanza. <\/em>It was a collection of\nhis work from 1982-2002. I read a lot of poetry during the intensive writing\nclasses at school and was able to craft my own voice that spoke to myself and\nothers the way Mr. Espada\u2019s work spoke to me. The day I graduated, a teacher\ntold me that Martin Espada was the Latino poet of his time and that I should be\nlabeled the Latino poet of mine. I have and will always keep that statement\nclose to my heart, but he has left some pretty big shoes to fill and I am in no\nway saying that those shoes were meant for me. I like to think they were\nthough, and that helps me to move forward in my writing.<\/p>\n\n\n

BR: do you consider yourself a slam poet or are you more traditional?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: <\/strong>While some of my work does contain some slam poetry aspects, I do not consider myself a slam poet. But I also neglect a lot of rules like the rhyme scheme and letter format that is present in traditional poetry. I\u2019d say I\u2019m more of a traditional poet mostly working in free verse. I\u2019m not a slam poet because slam poetry is written with the intention of being performed, whereas my work is written to be read on the page for the most part even though I can and sometimes do perform it.<\/p>\n\n\n

BR: Do you have a poetry mentor or someone who encouraged\nyou to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: <\/strong>As for my mentors I have the pleasure to say I have multiple. Thanks to my old school, I had the opportunity to work with professional writers who have a ton of experience in the field, each mentoring me and helping me craft different aspects of my work. For example, Megan Collins<\/strong> and Meghan Evans<\/strong> helped me to craft my poetry. We spent hours on Google Docs just picking the right word for a single line. Lynn<\/strong> Hoffman<\/strong> and Maureen O’Brien<\/strong> helped me to have a voice. I suffered from extreme social anxiety growing up, and the two of them helped me to break from the shell I created and to be able to perform my work. Eventually, I had enough courage to become the class speaker for my arts graduation. Lastly, Rafael Oses<\/strong> helped me realize what potential I had, not putting up with me and my antics freshman year helped a lot. I would sometimes just walk into his office and talk about my dad and life at home. He became a good support person for me, they all did, eventually becoming my family.<\/p>\n\n\n

BR: What inspires you to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: Marvel!<\/strong>. I know it sounds weird since Marvel and comic books have nothing to do with poetry, or what I write but hear me out. I fell in love with the craft of the story since I was a kid, the never-ending story from book to book or movie to movie made it seem like everything was brand new. I could be sitting in the same chair in my grandmother’s sala<\/em> for days at a time and everything would feel fresh as long as a superhero movie was on. I liked to tell myself stories throughout the day because of it, just storyboarding entire movie plots and superhero origins in my head. I would act them out whenever I was alone, choreographing fight scenes in the shower and working on facial expressions in the mirror. But when it came to writing those stories, I always got lost and kept stumbling over my words, but poetry\u2019s shortness gave my words the impact I wanted from them.<\/p>\n\n\n

BR: I read you want to work with kids in lower-income\nneighborhoods. What inspired you to want to do that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV:  <\/strong>I grew up in lower-income neighborhoods myself, so I know how it feels to be left behind. People just look at you differently when you say \u201cHartford,\u201d the coldness in a person’s eyes when they’re scared of your neighborhood makes it feel like they are scared of you. That fear turns you into the problem and when you’re the problem you jump straight to target, number one in the eyes of cops. We\u2019ve lost so many good young people to the streets and misjudgment to offers, my friends included, and anything I can do to stop that will happen. I saw cops harass and target my uncle, my father denied jobs he’s more than qualified to have just for things he had to do to make sure I ate. When color and place is stamped next to your name, your chances of survival are cut in half and the only way to live is to fall into stereotypes. I met some amazing people throughout my time in high school, especially my girlfriend Emma who showed me what true potential was. She looked passed my skin and saw straight into my soul. She came to my neighborhood with open arms and fell in love with my family and friends. She showed me that self-choice and understanding others are a must to have in this world, or else you’ll go crazy bending to fit a mold not meant for you. I want the kids of the future to know that the path others made for you isn’t the only path you have. You can become a doctor, lawyer, artist, dancer, or in my case a writer. Nothing is impossible even a career in art as long as you surround yourself with people who want to see you do good.<\/p>\n\n\n

BR: Which poems did you recite for the Fresh Voices\ncompetition? <\/strong>Could we publish them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: <\/strong>I read Mother\u2019s Day,<\/em> Prehistoric Artifacts<\/em>, and Promised\nLand<\/em>. I would love to have them published. <\/p>\n\n\n

BR: You won the Wallace Stevens competition twice, what is\ndifferent for you this time? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: <\/strong>When I found\nout I won the Wallace Stevens Competition<\/strong>\nfor the first time, I was ecstatic. I was at a low point in my early writing\ncareer and had no faith in the work I produced. I swore I won on pure luck,\nmaybe a lot of people didn\u2019t submit or maybe the entire lot including my own\nwasn\u2019t that good. But when I heard I won a second time in a row, becoming the\nfirst person in the history of the competition to do so, it sent the feeling of\npurpose through me. I began pushing myself even harder, slamming through work\nand dropping home run after home run in my poetry classes. I also had a few\nstrikeouts, but a little editing helped with those.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

BR: What do you want to accomplish as a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV: <\/strong>As of right\nnow, I\u2019m working on my memoir I hope to get published sometime in November if\neverything goes right. I want to continue my growth in poetry and start getting\nmore of my work out into the world so others can hear my story and know they\nare not the ones going through it right now, it gets better. I want to follow\nthe steps of Mr. Martin Espada<\/strong> and\nbecoming a professor of English later in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n

BR: Any advice for young people like you who want to be\npoets?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

DDV<\/strong>: No matter\nwhat’s happening at home or at school find something you love and push. Even if\nyou don\u2019t have a competitive mindset remember the world does, so strive to be\nthe best at what you do and never let it become a job. The two killers of\ncreativity is society and the expectations society sets for employment.<\/p>\n\n\n

BR: Wishing you the best and looking forward to reading your work and your poetry books. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n

Poems By Daniel Diaz-Villafane<\/h4>\n\n\n

Promised Land<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

            <\/strong>With a first line borrowed from “The\nSun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

Yes, isn’t it pretty to think<\/p>\n\n\n

when you walk home<\/p>\n\n\n

purses will remain unclutched,<\/p>\n\n\n

the burning sensation <\/p>\n\n\n

in a cop\u2019s trigger finger <\/p>\n\n\n

will go unsatisfied. <\/p>\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t it pretty to think<\/p>\n\n\n

hate will evaporate<\/p>\n\n\n

from tongues<\/p>\n\n\n

like puddles after a rainstorm,<\/p>\n\n\n

and names like spic and wetback<\/p>\n\n\n

will be nothing<\/p>\n\n\n

but words in a history book. <\/p>\n\n\n

Pretty to think one day<\/p>\n\n\n

white, black, and brown<\/p>\n\n\n

fingertips will come together<\/p>\n\n\n

like the teeth of a zipper<\/p>\n\n\n

and protect us from segregating\neyes. <\/p>\n\n\n

To think the words of Martin Espada
will travel from Massachusetts
to curbside memorials
and unnamed graves.
To think they’ll welcome the ones
taken by street violence,
whispering
This is your land too.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n

Prehistoric Artifacts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

A small bird <\/p>\n\n\n

with the wingspan <\/p>\n\n\n

of a pterodactyl <\/p>\n\n\n

soars above me. <\/p>\n\n\n

Besides\nthe way it flies,
\nit is so unlike<\/p>\n\n\n

the\nprehistoric creature<\/p>\n\n\n

but\nthe heart <\/p>\n\n\n

is\nthe same. <\/p>\n\n\n

It beats <\/p>\n\n\n

615 times per minute<\/p>\n\n\n

before it\u2019s silenced<\/p>\n\n\n

by the swoosh <\/p>\n\n\n

of a plastic bullet <\/p>\n\n\n

coming from little Tony\u2019s <\/p>\n\n\n

front porch. <\/p>\n\n\n

The corpse free-falls<\/p>\n\n\n

as gravity gains control.<\/p>\n\n\n

The small bird <\/p>\n\n\n

with the heart of a dinosaur<\/p>\n\n\n

is hushed <\/p>\n\n\n

Its story unspoken, <\/p>\n\n\n

unthought of,<\/p>\n\n\n

unwritten.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n

Mother\u2019s Day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

            <\/strong>after\n\u201cWishes for sons\u201d by Lucille Clifton<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

I wish her steps in my shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n

I wish her a strange room<\/p>\n\n\n

alone and cold,<\/p>\n\n\n

flashlights beaming <\/p>\n\n\n

through windows.<\/p>\n\n\n

Cops knocking<\/p>\n\n\n

on paper thin doors,<\/p>\n\n\n

my baby sisters in hand,<\/p>\n\n\n

fresh out of foster care.<\/p>\n\n\n

I wish her gardens of lies, a<\/p>\n\n\n

the sweet stings<\/p>\n\n\n

of sober dreams:<\/p>\n\n\n

I\u2019ll get clean,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

it was just a mistake.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

I wish her bloody knuckles<\/p>\n\n\n

from days of fighting brick.<\/p>\n\n\n

Scars on calloused hands,<\/p>\n\n\n

murmurings of unwantedness.<\/p>\n\n\n

I wish her steps in threadbare\nshoes,<\/p>\n\n\n

but above all else<\/p>\n\n\n

I wish her a long life,<\/p>\n\n\n

full of happiness<\/p>\n\n\n

and ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n

(c) Daniel Diaz-Villafane, printed\nwith permission from the author<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Bessy Reyna, CTLatinoNews.com\/Identidad Latina Danny Diaz-Villafane is a senior at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, enrolled in the Creative 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