With Hope: José B. González Interviews Philip Levine Prize Winner, Eric Morales-Franceschini

Eric Morales-Franceschini is a former construction worker, a U.S. Army veteran, and a community college graduate who now holds a Ph.D. in rhetoric from University of California, Berkeley. He is an assistant professor of English and Latin American studies at the University of Georgia in Athens. He is the author of the chapbook Autopsy of a Fall, published by Newfound in 2021 and winner of the 2020 Gloria Anzaldúa Poetry Prize; and The Epic of Cuba Libre: The Mambí, Mythopoetics and Liberation, published by the University of Virginia Press in 2022. A recipient of fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson and Ford foundations, his essays and poetry have been published in scholarly and literary venues including: Global South Studies, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Age of Revolutions, Small Axe, Acentos Review, Kweli, Muzzle, AGNI and the Boston Review.

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González: Congratulations on being selected for such a prestigious award. I typically wouldn’t inquire about the judges, but because the judge is such a literary titan, I have to ask, what is your reaction to having your manuscript chosen for the Philip Levine Prize by Juan Felipe Herrera? What does it mean to you?

Morales-Franceschini: Juan Felipe is a treasure.  From his poetry to his arts advocacy, let alone that endearingly mellow voice and humble demeanor, Don Juan is one of our finest ambassadors.  A literary titan who still carries himself like a literary novice, or better yet: a servant—in the richest (theological?) sense of that word!  I think it’s fair to say that he’s honored Winona LaDuke’s credo that we live to become ancestors worthy of praise.  Whether my work is worthy of his name is not for me to say.  All I can say is bendición and órale!  A word should be said about Philip Levine, too, that poet who endowed blue collar life with aesthetic dignity and who, like Juan Felipe, mentored many Raza students and emerging writers.  That their names honor my work (as does the legendary Gloria Anzaldúa) are facts I still can’t quite fathom!  

My formation is transdisciplinary.

Eric Morales-Franceschini

González: Poetry is sometimes a form of literary disobedience. As I read your book, I couldn’t help but feel the energy of this anti-establishment, anti-colonial rule. Does literary disobedience play a part in your writing? 

Morales-Franceschini: I could answer this in two ways, both of them I think worthwhile.  On the one hand, we can take “literary disobedience” to mean civil disobedience by other means—the artful equivalent, say, to a sit-in, a teach out, a boycott, or a strike.  And I love that characterization of Syndrome, because it is indeed a refusal to abide by the mythology that this is the best of all possible worlds!  On the other hand, we could understand “literary disobedience” to mean defying literary norms and conventions.  I wouldn’t say my work is “vanguard” or what-not.  But it is eclectic and maybe even proudly unlearned.  My formation is transdisciplinary, with degrees in philosophy, political science, anthropology, and rhetoric, and I try not to shy away from or apologize for that. 

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González: Throughout your book, there are memories and reflections on loss, whether it be language, rights, or land. Yet at times, the poems offer this direction of hope, particularly for Puerto Rico and those of Puerto Rican descent. Where do you think the most potential for change and improvement can be found? 

Morales-Franceschini: Hope is one of those affections that can so easily seduce.  I’m quite wary of it.  But you’re right to read it in the collection, with this one caveat: I think the collection is written on the way to hope… or in the hopes of hope, as it were.  That camino, I think, is walked by way of analysis, reflection, therapy, prayer, hymnals and gritos.  In other words, there is no hope without, first, or simultaneously, a fair amount of study, outrage, love, gratitude, reverence, and revolt.  And so the most potential is where it’s always already been: in the conjuring and vindication of emancipatory desire (then and now), remembering that our lowered expectations are our worst enemies!

González: Your poem, “Ashes,” is dedicated to Pedro Albizu Campos, one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century. Can you explain his connection to that poem in particular?

Morales-Franceschini: I dedicate poems to key figures who embody, historically, and evoke, symbolically, a radical devotion to autonomy and justice.  Those include Ramón Emeterio Betances, Lola Rodriguez de Tío, Lolita Lebrón, and Pedro Albizu Campos—all poets, in one way or another.  I appreciate that you’ve characterized Don Pedro as a “brilliant mind.”  He was a renowned orator and historic leader of the Nationalist Party, but he was also a Harvard-trained lawyer with ideas on how to reinstate a Puerto Rican currency, how to fund social services and guarantee employment, equitable wealth distributions, anti-trust and pro-labor laws, and international alliances.  He spent twenty-six years in prison for his devotion, leaving prison with radiation burns all over his legs.  Those burns (and a quote of his) inspired the poem, “Ashes.”  In his words, “Those who do not respect the ashes of their elders are the true corpses.”

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Those who do not respect the ashes of their elders are the true corpses

Pedro Albizu Campos

González: Your “Notes (for a Counter-Diagnosis) are a testament to how eclectic your approach is in this collection. Can you comment on why you made the artistic choice to include material from so many different types of sources? 

Morales-Franceschini: Yes, thank you, José, for bringing attention to this, since it’s so vital (not ancillary) to the project.  The notes are fairly extensive, at least for your standard poetry collection. That’s because I can’t presume that readers will be familiar with Puerto Rican history.  Not even Boricuas know much of that history!  I had to learn nearly all of it by myself, despite all my degrees from such prestigious institutions.  The notes offer historical context, data, sources, elaborations and recommended reads.  It’s all there to enrich the poetry and edify, if not empower, the reader.  Once you’ve read the notes, you’re that much more knowledgeable and the poems that much more potent.  I love to read books that teach me (non-trivial) things I didn’t already know, and in ways I didn’t expect!

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