After Ruben

This collection of poetry, prose, and translations explores Latinx and queer identity through homage to the great Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario.After Ruben unfolds a decades-long journey braiding together the personal, the political and the historical. Throughout the text, acclaimed poet Francisco Aragon intersperses English-language translations and riffs of the Spanish-language master Ruben Dario. Whether it's biting portraits of public figures, or nuanced sketches of his father, Francisco Aragon has assembled his most expansive collection to date, evoking his native San Francisco, but also imagining ancestral spaces in Nicaragua.Readers will encounter pieces that splice lines from literary forebearers, a moving elegy to a sibling, a surprising epistle from the grave. In short, After Ruben presents a complex and fascinating conversation surrounding poetry in the Americas-above all as it relates to Latinx and queer poetics.