La Casa de Colores Update: “El Jardín” Launches!

To follow up on my last blog, in which I highlighted this month’s featured webcast and a few of the wonderful projects our Poets Laureate created while in their posts and continue to maintain, I’m happy to announce that current Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera’s year-long project “La Casa de Colores” has launched its second feature, “El Jardín”!

In his own words, Juan Felipe says:

“El Jardín” (The Garden) is a special place where I will share my experiences with curators at the Library of Congress. Peek into the Library’s wealth of materials, such as: Pablo Neruda’s “España en el Corazón,” given to him by soldiers—the pages made out of their clothes turned to pulp; a letter the folksong pioneer Woody Guthrie wrote on the back of a dust jacket to Alan Lomax; a silkscreen by Yolanda M. López, on the courage of “Mujeres Trabajadoras”—women workers. I hope you will be as inspired by them as I am, and you can take the treasures of El Jardín with you—in heart and with pen.

Thus, the feature joins its sister “La Familia” (The Family)–which asks
its audience to help the Laureate create an epic poem prompted by monthly themes–in calling for the participation of the general public. Juan Felipe goes on to say:

History awaits us—let’s step into word-art. Explore and experiment until a poem is born. As a matter of fact, we can start a “La Casa de Colores”  poetry folder and add a new poem every month. Help me bring the wealth of knowledge in our nation’s library to life, through your poetry.

On the 15th of each month through the end of Juan Felipe’s term, “El Jardín” will inspire you with a new primary resource or resources from the Library’s collections. You’ll meet the curators; have access to the curator’s description of the magnificent findings, along with links so you can go further; and read a poem response from Juan Felipe himself, which you can replicate in your own words.

Click here to experience “El Jardín’s” first segment, which launched yesterday and centers around the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project.

But all the good news doesn’t stop there! The project’s site has been revamped with a framework that has the capacity to host all of our Laureate’s visions for the project–which includes “La Familia’s” new theme (below):

So get to clickin’ and submittin’! And stay tuned for other fun updates along the way.