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Giannina Braschi

Giannina Braschi is an American poet who writes in Spanish, Spanglish, and English. She was born in San Juan on February 5, 1954, and is based in New York City. The Library of Congress calls her writing

Poetry Is This Screaming Madwoman

by Giannina Braschi (b. 1954)

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(ars poetica)

Poetry is this screaming madwoman. Everything seems poetry. Madmen

gaze high. Everything seems madness. Madmen fear no moon, fear no fire.

Burns of flesh are poetry. Madmen’s wounds are poetry. The witch’s crime

was poetry. Magic knew how to find its poetry. The star wasn’t poetry

before the madwoman discovered it. Discovery of fire in the star. Discovery

of water with sand. Neither poetry nor prose. Salt is for fish, salt is for

death, the poem is not among the dead. Remember, but don’t write it. Love

her duendes and act as her Lazarus, but don’t wake her. Sleepwalker

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