Americana-lcd
Luis Correa-Díaz
Americana-lcd by Luis Correa-Díaz is a democratic, postmodern, literary treasure that reflects on American democracy: its current state, the perils it faces and generates, and the aspirations it holds for the future. It accomplishes all of this and more in a multimodal manner truly compatible with the technological reality of our times. Correa-Díaz’s poetic work has its own trailer, includes comics by Pavel Ortega, poems/notes from his iPhone, and poems resembling tweets, but most of them are less or equal to one page long, succinct and to the point. He does so because he acknowledges that our generation gets easily distracted with technology, which is counterintuitive because technology is meant to connect us. To capitalize on technology’s accessibility to a wider audience, Americana-lcd is bilingual (Spanish-English). Though, to call it bilingual is not exactly precise because the first versions of the poems are not written entirely in Spanish. They incorporate words, phrases, or cultural references in English because these are better contextualized in English or because their translations to Spanish do not carry the same force that demands to be recorded– are untranslatable. Whether it is Spanglish, code-switching or an in-between phenomenon, the collection of poems is representative of the linguistic reality of Latinx people in the United States. The linguistic/visual variation speaks to the cultural diversity of contemporary “America/América”. Within the narrative, there are references to famous speeches, poems, songs, places, people (superheroes, criminals, presidents, judges, authors.), etc. If you relate to these references, you can reflect on them as you read; but, if you are not familiar with them, then it is suggested that you do some research on your end to better understand the poems. Correa-Díaz encourages the reader to be informed by referencing Wikipedia, academic or news articles, YouTube, you name it. Americana-lcd is not only technology-prone in appearance, but it extends beyond the book’s materiality to react to technology itself for the benefit of the reader. |
Americana-lcd expresses the sincere concerns of the poet. His sensibility is heightened by different stimuli, such as NY’s Hart Island, the war in Vietnam, the 911 in NY and Santiago de Chile (his birth motherland), the in-verisimilitude of the American dream, the Kenosha shooting, which we are re-living now with the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the humanitarian crisis at the Southern border with Mexico, Cyberwarfare, and the insurrection on the Capitol on January 6. These are some of the problems/consequences raised about democracy, but they are overwhelming for the poet for he rises early in the morning and goes to sleep late at night spinning these events off the top of his head (his iPhone notes/poems inform us of when he wrote them, 5:05 AM and 10:07 PM respectively).
Nonetheless, in his search for the perfect song/poem, there is a glimpse of hope for the better. Georgia has vindicated herself on election day and democracy still stands a chance at survival. Such moments are reminders why he has said “I do” to accepting “America/América” as his adopted motherland. One day “an austral-Pacific wind will come looking for my (his) charred bones,” but for now he must live the American dream, however open to interpretation this might be, and have his and the voices of others heard.
Luis Correa-Diaz, Member of the Academia Chilena de la Lengua (Chile) and Real Academia de Ciencias, Bellas Letras y Nobles Artes de Córdoba (Spain), poet and professor of Digital Humanities and Human Rights at the University of Georgia-USA. Author of several books, articles and special dossiers. Among them: metaverse (2021), Haikus nada más (2021), and Los Haikus de Gus (2021 y 2020). Member of several editorial boards of European, Latin American, and US journals. Visiting Professor: State University of New York –Albany; Instituto Iberoamericano -Berlín; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; University of Liverpool; Universidad de Salamanca; Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaiso, Chile; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Bolivia.
Americana-lcd is a publication by Valparaiso Editions-USA. Click here to purchase.
Nonetheless, in his search for the perfect song/poem, there is a glimpse of hope for the better. Georgia has vindicated herself on election day and democracy still stands a chance at survival. Such moments are reminders why he has said “I do” to accepting “America/América” as his adopted motherland. One day “an austral-Pacific wind will come looking for my (his) charred bones,” but for now he must live the American dream, however open to interpretation this might be, and have his and the voices of others heard.
Luis Correa-Diaz, Member of the Academia Chilena de la Lengua (Chile) and Real Academia de Ciencias, Bellas Letras y Nobles Artes de Córdoba (Spain), poet and professor of Digital Humanities and Human Rights at the University of Georgia-USA. Author of several books, articles and special dossiers. Among them: metaverse (2021), Haikus nada más (2021), and Los Haikus de Gus (2021 y 2020). Member of several editorial boards of European, Latin American, and US journals. Visiting Professor: State University of New York –Albany; Instituto Iberoamericano -Berlín; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; University of Liverpool; Universidad de Salamanca; Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaiso, Chile; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Bolivia.
Americana-lcd is a publication by Valparaiso Editions-USA. Click here to purchase.
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