http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Grito
To Read Gritos Poetry Please Click the Link Above.

Here is an Interview between Grito and Papa..

Spanish Romanticism
Original Poetry talks with Grito
January 19, 2010

Today we talk with long time member, and contest winner, Grito!

OP: Tell us a bit about yourself.

G: I was born a single clear letter in Ponce, Puerto Rico. My Dad was a Master Sergeant in the Army and we moved from one country to another about every two and a half years. I have lived in Puerto Rico, Virgina (twice and hit the first home run out of the Leesburg Virginia Little League Stadium), New Jersey (twice), Georgia (came in fourth in State during my first year in wrestling), Germany (four years), Ecuador S.A. (lived there two and a half years and was the quarterback on football team and I am the 1968 National Golden Gloves High Champion at 165 pounds), and Nicaragua (lived there two and a half years and am a member of the 1965 National High School Basketball team[ white, green and gold ine uniforms under the lights]) under the violent Somoza Dictatorship. I am bilingual in Spanish and English, social and legal, I love all music, this trait came from my mother, who used to go to the PX in Panama when I was 15 and bring me The Birds and Rolling Stones new albums, not to mention Elvis records in Germany!!and we both feel that music is like air, indispensable for living.

OP: When did you start writing Poetry?

G: I started writing poetry in 2003 during a time I was living alone after my second wife was killed by a demented driver on a night road.

OP: I am sorry to hear about that.

G: He wasn't taking his medication and celebrated at a bar close by the scene that he had gone 100 miles an hour on a 25 mph country lane. He left my wife dead there but didn't mention it.

OP: Who or what inspires you the most?

G: It is more a what, i.e., what inspired me to write. Tango, pure and simple. I was dating a Russian Lady who was originally from the Ukraine but the family had become citizens of the U.S. They have ties to Saint Peterburg and she was heavily, still is, into dancing and was looking for a Tango partner. I was up for it and became enthralled with the history and lyrics of the classical Argentinian Tango. I got caught so with the pathos and the passion of the genre that I was made to, no, forced to write these bleeding finger four word poems that were my first. I learned to love and dance the Tango and know that the Tango is my thirst. By the way, did you know that in Russia poets are treated like movie stars and are revered like we do professional athletes?

OP: I did not know that. It is amazing what different cultures hold closer to them. Do you have a favorite style of poetry?

G: Yes!! Classical modern Spanish romanticism. Pablo Neruda Nobel Laureate, Octavio Paz ,eight time Noble Laureate, Ruben Dario, creator of modern Spanish poetry. I , like everyone, adore Edgar A.Poe, Frost and his path, Walt Whitman. I like strong and direct poetry, space prose, etc., etc. I live near Camden New Jersey and one day in 1970 I drove to a grave site accompanied by one of my brothers (I have three, and one sister) there under the influence of an hallucinogenic and by pure chance or fate we were shown his grave by the skeleton looking guard.

I have to add that our inimitable WordSlinger turned me on to Emily big time!! Thanks John. But I admit that I am learning to enjoy all the types of poetry (A kiss for my wife Aixa who is a poetess here, and a Blood kiss here for Alexia!!), all the poets here are great and I wish I could name them all because I am a sponge and a lot of what I write comes from ideas I get from reading good poetry from the others here, so THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!!

OP: When you're not writing poetry, what do you like to do?

G: I am sixty years old, I was an athlete and I have four grandsons, one granddaughter and a grandson due this month! Angels from heaven for me! I am part motor head, I have an 09' Shelby Mustang 500 G.T. that I had modified to 630 horsepower and the car I drove to Whitman's grave in 1970 was my first car, a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner with a four speed 383, gold with black bench seat and Bullett looking mag wheels.

Aside from family matters, I still go dancing, went to Prospectors two weeks ago, a very nice country and western club with graceful line dancers.

But let me add, women are my passion. They are God's perfect creation. They are the sole reason for being and for breathing, trying to catch that magic they spell as life, and divine my friend because this passion comes from God, and mothers, like Elvis thought, are pure.

I am preparing for retirement soon and plan to move to Florida because I want to return to the lush green of the jungles I grew up in that is not available to me in New Jersey..

OP: Florida is a great place to retire. "Blue Inca Night", your latest contest winner. Tell us a bit about it.

G: When I was about eight years old and living in Germany, my second grade teacher took the class to the library and told everyone that they had to check out a book. I had no interest in reading other than comic books but since I had to check out a book I did, it was Kit Carson, a western cowboy hero. For the next eight years all I did was read, and read everything I could get a hold of. I would get lost in that stratosphere of letters connecting to the galaxy, fiction, fantasy, science etc. I read all of the books and magazines at the Ecuadorian and the Nicaraguan American Embassy libraries where I spent five of my formative teenage years living the central and south American jungle. When I wasn't reading I was on horseback everyday after school. Of course there were normal social activities but what the city streets are to an urban dweller, the jungle is to me. I have written several poems that show this side of the world and Blue Inca Night is one of those. I have a significant affiliation with all Indian tribes because, although the blood of Ponce De Leon, the Spanish Conquistador flows in my veins, the blood of the Taino Indians does too. Sort of a combination of fierce spirituality and this includes the many tribes such as the Auca, Inca and the Maya, the warrior Apache, gosh they are all so great. I add that I am a Roman Catholic. I first wrote Blue Inca as an expositionary poem but later converted it to a semi-blood poem with humor. It is written in a familiar way, just as if I was writing about the Sundown Diner, if I was writing as an urbanite. Urban jungle, LOL!!!

OP: Like the 2009 contest winners, "Blue Inca Night" will be published in the next Original Poetry Anthology. Do you have any other published work?

G: 2005, Sherry French Art Gallery, Chelsea, N.Y., N.Y. Spring art and poetry exhibition. Eleven poems written to original oil art work by Randy Ford American artist and Marcel Franquelin, French artist.

2007, Book: Eye Candy, Nudes and Figures. Thirty-six poems written to original oil art work painted by Marcel Franquelin, a French artist classically trained in the european style.

http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/grito
To Grito's family, please accept our warmest condolences from everyone at OriginalPoetry.com.


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