Magdalena Gómez: Springfield’s 2019-2021 Poet Laureate

—-By María Luisa Arroyo—-

Many individuals have been investing their time and efforts to foster a cultural renaissance in Springfield, with Fresh Paint Springfield as a beautifully vivid reminder, annual festivals such as the Jazz & Roots Festival, parades such as the annual Springfield Puerto Rican Parade, our many museums such as the Springfield Museums at the Quadrangle, and art galleries such as the Art for the Soul Gallery in the heart of Springfield.

A crucial component of every culture too is its poetry, a written art form that resonates emotionally and spiritually, an art form that poets practice in solitude with the hope that those who read and listen to our poems will understand how our distilled expressions of experiences – real and imagined – connect with their own inner emotional and spiritual lives. Many poets in our community, including me and including Magdalena Gómez, have been contributing to the literary world in Springfield because we believe that cultivating a creative life at ANY age also cultivates our consciousness, our conscience, our sense of social justice – and most importantly, the courage to address social injustices, such as bullying. As you all know, Magdalena Gómez and I put out a call for submissions to an anthology as a call for action in response to Carl Joseph Walker Hoover’s suicide as a result of bullying. With Sirdeaner Walker’s blessing – may she and Carl rest in peace – we compiled, edited and published the anthology Bullying: Replies, Rebuttals, Confessions and Catharsis with Skyhorse Publishing in 2012.

Our 2019 United States Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo, the first Native American poet to be named national poet laureate, says this about being a poet in the introduction to her collection of poems, How We Became Human:

“Poet Audre Lorde’s death in the early nineties marked the transformation of a warrior in this world, a poet-warrior who worked for justice, for lesbians, for black women and ultimately for all. The poet in the role of warrior is an ancient one. The poet’s road is a journey for truth, for justice. One is not liberated if another is enslaved. Compassion is the first quality of a warrior, and compassion is why we are here, why we fell from the sky.”

María Luisa Arroyo, Jim Lescault, Magdalena Gómez, Mayor Domenic Sarno and Rosemary Tracy Woods at the naming of Magdalena as Springfield’s Poet Laureate for 2019-2021.

What our U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo says about Audre Lorde also applies to the Boricua poet Magdalena Gómez. She is a fierce, compassionate poet-warrior – for all.

In the literary world, to be named Poet Laureate of a city or state is a significant recognition, one that Magdalena Gómez so richly deserves because for decades she has positively influenced generations – and that is NO exaggeration – I repeat, generations of poets – including me – writers, musicians, and visual artists in our beloved Springfield, in New England and in New York City. This significant recognition will enable her to leverage this honor locally, regionally, and nationally to serve Springfield community members who write creatively.

For instance, The Academy of American Poets, a national non-profit organization established in 1934 in New York City to advocate for poets and poetry – in 2018 established the Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellowships. As the 2019-2021 Poet Laureate of Springfield, Magdalena is eligible to apply for this annual prestigious fellowship: $50,000 – $100,000. This award is given to honor poets of literary merit appointed to serve in civic positions such as Poet Laureate of a city, state, or tribal nation so that they may undertake meaningful, impactful, and innovative projects that engage their fellow residents, including youth, with poetry, thereby helping to address issues important to their communities.

We know that Magdalena Gómez is not about the accolades or about the money; she is never resting on her laurels – and the pun IS intended – and whenever she gets paid, in fact, she pays her collaborating artists FIRST, often at the expense of not paying herself at all. With the prestige of being named 2019-2021 Poet Laureate of Springfield, Magdalena will continue to take action with her art and to foster creative collaborations in the best interest of our community.

It will come then as NO surprise to anyone that as the 2019-2021 Poet Laureate of Springfield, MA, Magdalena Gómez will also advocate for the establishment of a YOUTH Poet Laureate in Springfield. Her unwavering belief in the wisdom, creativity, and agency of our children, teens and young adults to generate and share poetry in all its forms – including spoken word, traditional, Instagram poetry, video poetry – underscores too Magdalena’s insistence on meaningful intergenerational dialogue about what makes US and what KEEPS ALL of us creative, connected, human.

Honored guests and supporters, her curriculum vitae – over 20 pages long, single-spaced – provides almost life-long evidence of her unwavering commitment to the arts, in particular poetry and to playwriting. Join me to celebrate Magdalena Gómez for all that she has achieved and will continue to achieve in the literary world and in our community.