VCFA Puerto Rico Residency Day 1

[Posts from my Vermont College of Fine Arts winter residency.]

As I write this I have been in Puerto Rico for 24 hours. I think I am still getting acclimated. Still absorbed in the wonder of the fact that I am not cold! Because of the heat I expect the day to go on forever, just like in the summer, but it still grows dark just after 5 pm as it does this time of year. Is that how they tell the seasons in a place like this? By the progression of the sun as it rolls across the sky? By how much rain pours from some heavenly fountain?

As I walk the streets of Old San Juan I do feel a general sense of well-being. The healing bright tropical colors seep into me.

We visited La Casa del Libro, the House of the Book. We learned about the late introduction of the printing press to Puerto Rico and its effect on writers. The press didn’t come to PR until 1806, but the first literary books weren’t published until 1850. Before that it was just newspapers and history books heavily censored by Spain. Our lecturer, Wilfredo A. Geigel, is a former lawyer now pursuing his passion for finding and preserving these books and Puerto Rico’s publishing history.


The rest of the day I wondered about what it meant to write with no hope of publishing. Did the writers make books for themselves, the pages tied together with string? I’m willing to believe the words would find their way into the world.

We had our first day of workshop, where we get to have our writing read and critiqued in a group setting. Mary Ruefle, the poet, is the leader of the group I’m in. At the regular Vermont residency in Montpelier I would not necessarily have such an opportunity to work with her–I’m a prose student. So she’s a big part of my decision to come to Puerto Rico. Workshop is a deep experience. My piece is not up for discussion yet, but I will share these two wonderful tidbits from Mary:

“Nothing teaches you but reading and writing. Nothing teaches you but the practice of your art.”

“When you write you are a conduit for energy but that energy does not belong to you.”

That’s all for now. More soon,

Sophfronia