Meet Richard Blanco | Presidential Inaugural Poet, Memoirist, and Public Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Richard Blanco and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Richard, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My first career was as a professional civil engineer in a consulting office. Besides having to design, I also had to manage project costs and budgets. It was a business after all. I took that to heart when I began “living the dream” as a poet making a living though my work, I understood that my poetry was also a sort of business. I began to think of myself as an entrepreneur and formed my own company. I manage my “po-biz,” as I like to say, so that I can ensure the financial freedom which, in turn, allows me to keep writing without worries. Artists often think that art is not a business, but it is to a certain degree. I’ve never bought into the notion of the “starving artist.” It’s a false narrative.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It’s said that every poet is writing one poem all their life. Figuratively speaking, this means that a poet’s body of work keeps circling around some kind of central obsession. My obsession comes down to one word—home—and all that big word calls to mind with respect to family, community, cultural identity, sexuality, and much more. It’s an obsession that began before I was even born. Let me explain. As I like to say, I was made in Cuba, assembled in Spain, and imported to the United States—meaning my mother, seven months pregnant with me, and the rest of my family arrived as exiles from Cuba to Madrid, where I was born. Less than two months later, we emigrated once more and settled in New York City, then eventually in Miami where I was raised. By the time I was forty-five days old, I “belonged” to three countries, and yet to none. I believe that good art answers questions, but great art keeps asking them. What is home? Where do I belong? Who am I in this world? These are the perennial and universal questions that continue to inform my work to this day.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them to South Point in Miami Beach, the beach from my childhood, the center of my universe. We wouldn’t need to see anything else.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My mother immigrated as an exile from Cuba, leaving behind her entire family, including her parents, for the sake of a better life for me and my older brother. The sacrifice she made is something I can never repay, though I do try to honor and memorialize her through my poems. If it wasn’t for her story, my story would’ve never been possible.

Website: www.richard-blanco.com

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