How to Love a Country - by Richard Blanco

About the Book

"The diverse poems in this collection form a mosaic of seemingly varied topics: the Pulse Nightclub massacre; an unexpected encounter on a visit to Cuba; the forced exile of 8,500 Navajos in 1868; the arrival of a young Chinese woman at Angel Island in 1938; the incarceration of a gifted writer; and the poet's abiding love for his partner, who he is finally allowed to wed. But despite each poem's unique subject matter or occasion, all are fundamentally asking one overwhelming question: how to love this country? Seeking answers, Blanco digs deep into the very marrow of our nation--our cities and towns--with poems that interrogate our past and present, grieve our injustices and note our flaws, yet remember to celebrate our ideals and cling to our hopes. Blanco unravels the very fabric of the American narrative, pursuing a resolution to the inherent contradiction of our nation's psyche and mandate: e pluribus unum (out of many, one), charged with the utopian idea that no single narrative is more important than another, and that America could and ought someday to be a county where all narratives converge into one. A country in which we can all truly thrive and truly love"--

Book Synopsis

A timely and moving collection from the renowned inaugural poet on issues facing our country and people--immigration, gun violence, racism, LGBTQ issues, and more.

Through an oracular yet intimate and accessible voice, Richard Blanco addresses the complexities and contradictions of our nationhood and the unresolved sociopolitical matters that affect us all. Blanco digs deep into the very marrow of our nation through poems that interrogate our past and present, grieve our injustices, and note our flaws, but also remember to celebrate our ideals and cling to our hopes. Charged with the utopian idea that no single narrative is more important than another, this book asserts that America could and ought someday to be a country where all narratives converge into one, a country we can all be proud to love and where we can all truly thrive.

The poems form a mosaic of seemingly varied topics: the Pulse nightclub massacre; an unexpected encounter on a visit to Cuba; the forced exile of 8,500 Navajos in 1868; a lynching in Alabama; the arrival of a young Chinese woman at Angel Island in 1938; the incarceration of a gifted writer; and the poet's abiding love for his partner, who he is finally allowed to wed as a gay man. But despite each poem's unique concern or occasion, all are fundamentally struggling with the overwhelming question of how to love this country.

Review Quotes

"This clear-seeing and forthright volume marks Blanco as a major, deeply relevant poet."
--Booklist, Starred Review

"Generous and deeply felt, the long prose poems in this moving new collection from presidential inaugural poet Blanco (after Looking for the Gulf Motel) help us understand what it means to cross a border . . . . Submit to the fierce pleasure of Blanco's art."
--Library Journal

"Blanco's contributions to the fields of poetry and the arts have already paved a path forward for future generations of writers . . . Our Nation was built on the freedom of expression, and poetry has long played an important role in telling the story of our Union and illuminating the experiences that unite all people."
--President Barack Obama

"At a time when we are once again debating our identity as Americans, this splendid collection of poems from a great storytelling poet is an absolute treasure that speaks to the things that hold us together despite the things that split us apart."
--Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Leadership in Turbulent Times

"From a country courting implosion, a country at odds with its own brutal and breathless backstory, a country with a name that sparks both expletive and prayer, rises Richard Blanco's muscular, resolute voice--sounding stanzas of the confounded heart and clenched fist, of indignation and insurrection. This is an urgent gathering of sweet, fractured, insistent American noise--the stories that feed us and the stories we'd rather forget--re-teaching us all the right ways there are to love a country that so often forgets how to love us back."
--Patricia Smith, author of Incendiary Art

"This new collection is vibrant, tragic, exhilarating, deeply in love with people and their stories and heartbreakingly engaged with our struggling nation. These are poems for every season, for large and small moments and very much for our time."
--Amy Bloom, author of White Houses

"A frank and wonderful collection that calls America a work in progress, that describes the poet himself as a grade school bully who loved the other boy he hit and one could readily cry with him now, everything is alive here in his book: the Rio Grande as sentient and knowing, all this with a jazz musician's timing. Richard Blanco writes about the elusive poundingness of love."
--Eileen Myles, author of Evolution

"In these times of hate, we need poets who speak of love. Richard Blanco's new collection is a visionary hymn of love to the human beings who comprise what we call this country. Whether he speaks in the voice of an immigrant who came here long ago, or the very river an immigrant crosses to come here today, Blanco sings and sings. This, the song says, is the way out--for all of us."
--Martín Espada, author of Vivas to Those Who Have Failed

"Richard Blanco has risen to the challenge of writing poetry that serves our nation. This is both a responsibility and an honor. I am moved, proud, overjoyed, and inspired."
--Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

"Powerful, personal, and full of life, these poems delve into the complex intricacies of what it means to call the United States home. A masterful poet who is clear-eyed and full of heart, Blanco explores the country's haunted past while offering a bright hope for the future."
--Ada Limón, author of Bright Dead Things

"In this timely collection, Richard Blanco masterfully embraces his role as a civic poet, confronting our nation's riddled history in the light of conscience. At once personal and political, these lyric narratives decry injustice and proclaim our hopes."
--Carolyn Forché, author of The Country Between Us

"There is a uniting oneness to these passionate and remarkable poems, each finely wrought line a bridge from one heart to another, a love song of this burdened earth and all its flawed inhabitants. Richard Blanco is this century's Walt Whitman."
--Andre Dubus III, author of Gone So Long

About the Author

Selected by Barack Obama as the fifth Presidential Inaugural Poet in US history, Richard Blanco is the award-winning author of two memoirs and four poetry collections. His body of work and advocacy are characterized by his personal negotiation of cultural identity and universal themes of place and belonging. He currently serves as the first-ever Education Ambassador for the Academy of American Poets and is a member of the Obama Foundation's advisory council. Connect with him online: richard-blanco.com, Twitter (@rblancopoet), Facebook (RichardBlancoPoetry), and Instagram (poetrichardblanco).