Carlos Hernandez Visit

Carlos Hernandez’s visit was well-anticipated after reading his poetry prior to the visit. The difference was definitely seen and heard when he read the poetry aloud to the class, with a distinct intonation in each word of his poems. It was as though we were with him in the time that he was writing this. He took us on a Spanglish journey through his poetry and showed the power that diversity in languages has when writing poetry, or writing in general. It was definitely a new experience for me, and relatable at the same time as I myself am bilingual as well. While he discussed the different aspects of poetry and his inspirations, he also touched base upon the online field of publishing poetry and encouraging us to start as early as now to get published. He gave many links and websites that would help us and discussed the different aspects of lining and spacing online. While it costs much in print, it costs next to nothing online because there’s no ink or additional pages to pay for. However, he pointed out that the audience is slightly different, as an online audience’s attention span is much shorter and less dedicated to reading. Luckily his poetry is as interesting as it is lengthy, and I look forward to reading more of his work.