Ada Lemon, US Prize-winning poet inspired by Lorca

Alice Civita

Miami, August 22 (EFE). – Ada Limón will become the first Hispanic woman on the Prestigious List of Poets Laureate in the United States on September 29, a distinction from the Library of Congress for its thanks to “duende” and his Mexican grandfather.

Lemon says in an interview with Evie.

His Mexican grandfather Francisco Limone is always by his side.

He recalls speaking of his father: “He loved music and the arts. He was passionate about flamenco and was a fan of Chavela Vargas. Music in his home was one of the first ways poetry came into my life.” Jalisco.

For years, Ada Lemon believed her fate would be similar to that of her grandfather. His elf could only come out disguised as leisure and not as a passion for life. He never thought that he could make a living from his art.

For this reason, being a financially successful poet already seemed to her “the gift of life sufficient” and now calling her “a laureate poet” by the United States is “something unimaginable, an unspeakable gift”.

“Especially because this is not something you look for or apply for. This is something that comes,” the 46-year-old explained.

Paying an annual stipend, Poet Laureates present the annual Literary Season at the Library of Congress in early fall with a reading of their work.

When Ada Lemon takes office as the 24th U.S. Library of Congress Poet Laureate, the nation’s most important, she will read some of her poems in the institution’s College Hall. It is one of the traditions that begins this annual period.

With her will be her ancestors. Among them, Grandfather Frank, for whom “Heart on Fire” was written.

Although she considers her Spanish not good enough for interviewing or writing poetry, the artist knows the impact of her bilingual upbringing.

He said, “Language is often not enough to express what we feel. And in these cases, when I search for words to express myself, I find those slippery terms that one language borrows from the other.”

Ada Lemon was raised in her native California and had a career as a marketing copywriter in New York, until love brought her to Kentucky.

hair for healing

Lucas Marquardt, her husband, is a videographer who specializes in Thoroughbreds. His profession made the couple move to Lexington, Kentucky, which is considered the center of American equine life.

“Nature is the catalyst for a lot of my work and here it is easier to make the connection than in New York,” he admits, although the Big Apple has also been generous with his work.

Lemon six books of poetry. “The Carrying,” published in 2018, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for National Poetry.

The writer also presents the podcast The Slowdown, which shares the work of other poets and was born as an initiative of another poet, Tracy K. Smith, who held the position between 2017 and 2019.

His latest publication, The Mischievous Kind, written during the pandemic, is a prelude to what he sees as his new mission as the country’s official poet.

He said, “The times we live in have left us with big wounds and constant new wounds. What I would like to highlight in this period is that poetry serves to express those pains and helps us heal.”

The Mischievous Kind is a collection of poems in which his observations of the elements that are part of his daily life are intertwined with memories.

Ada Lemon would be satisfied when she received the title of poet laureate if “there were more people with poetry to deal with the pain of these difficult times, and who understood that poetry is something nearby that heals and helps.” EFE

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