Former producer of the African-Caribbean poetry theater and a dynamic poet, Sandra Maria Esteves, delivered a powerful reading of her works last night at the Rockefeller center.
Esteves, who is Puerto Rican and Dominican, first started writing at the age of 25, after attending an art school. She has been writing poetry for 22 years since she left art school to pursue a writing career. "I wanted to be a painter," Esteves said, "but I discovered that words, ideas and sounds could be used instead of color, form and lines."
Her poetry is mostly descriptive rather than analytical, with a strong musical influence. She seems more concerned with conveying the emotional drama and tension of a moment rather than interpreting events and situations in retrospect.
Her writing has a definite rhythm, and though she does not follow strict metrical forms, her construction of phrases emphasizes the "sound" of a word as much as its meaning.
A dominant theme in Esteves's writing is the issue of racial identity. In "Not Neither," one of the first poems she read, Esteves skillfully blended Spanish and English into verse, reinforcing her bicultural heritage.
Her poems, as well as her demeanor, reflected a subtle rejection of traditional stereotypes as they apply to both Latin Americans and women.
She also spoke about the changing face of contemporary society and how there is even a greater need for a strong link with one's "identity." In "The Common Wealth," Esteves addressed the perception of women today, accenting a serious poem with touches of humor, wit, and cynicism.
Her use of imagery was perhaps the most powerful aspect of her reading last night. "I like to form images -- pictures that express a feeling," Esteves said.
A sizeable fraction of the work she read was based on imagery, whether it was rain, seeds, music or war. Her poems were translations of these images, and issued forth a sense of rebellion and a nonconformist attitude. "These words do not celebrate any holidays -- only the day their voices are given birth," she said.
Her poetry, most importantly, is about day to day living and average people. There is nothing esoteric or removed about her experiences -- they are situations that anyone could be in. There is a strong personal and emotional element in her writing, which is given a new dimension by her passionate voice while reading.
Esteves reaches her audiences, and herself, through the power of emotion and music, rather than a flashy show of poetics and technique, an aspect of her writing which endows her with the power to affect readers on a more visceral level.
The La Alianza Latina Latino/a poets series will continue for the remainder of this week. On Wednesday, poet Magdalia Cruz will read from her works in 1 Rockefeller at 8 p.m.
