Richard Blanco

Richard Blanco (1968- ) is one of the most beloved and influential poets writing today. He was a presidential inaugural poet to President Obama ('One Today' 2013). Richard Blanco’s mother, seven months pregnant, and the rest of the family arrived as exiles from Cuba to Madrid where he was born on February 15th, 1968. Forty-five days later, the family immigrated once more to New York City. Only a few weeks old, Blanco already belonged to three countries, a foreshadowing of the concerns of place and belonging that would shape his life and work. Blanco has received numerous honors for his writings and published many books of poetry and two memoirs. He lives in Maine with his longtime partner.

No More Than This

Today, home is a cottage with morning

in the yawn of an open window. I watch

the crescent moon, like a wind-blown sail,

vanish. Blue slowly fills the sky and light

regains the trust of wildflowers blooming

with fresh spider webs spun stem to stem.

The room rises with the toasting of bread,

a stick of butter puddling in a dish, a knife

at rest, burgundy apples ready to be halved,

a pint of blueberries bleeding on the counter,

and little more than this. A nail in the wall

with a pair of disembodied jeans, a red jersey,

and shoes embossed by the bones of my feet

and years of walking. I sit down to breakfast

over the nicks of a pinewood table and I am,

for a moment, not afraid of being no more

than what I hear and see, no more than this:

the echo of bird songs filling an empty vase,

the shadow of a sparrow moving through

the shadow of a tree, disturbing nothing.

— Richard Blanco