Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Within the already esoteric window of contemporary writing from Latin America, there lies one of the smallest yet perhaps most significant epicenters for counterpoetics: Central America. A subregion of North America made up of only 7 countries, Central America stands as one of the most multi-ethnic and linguistically diverse regions of Latin America. Why then, when it comes to literary acknowledgments, is it too one of the most underrated?
Coined originally by Martinican theorist and poet Édouard Glissant in his 1981 work Le discours antillais and later reimagined in reference to Central American writing by scholar Karina Alma in her eponymous book Central American Counterpoetics: Diaspora and Rememory (UA Press 2024) the term: “counterpoetics” while fluid in its transmutations over the years, best describes marginalized poetic practices that oppose imperial, teleological visions of history.
Poets House hosted a night of Central American counterpoetics which carry with them amongst other things—the bold currents of insurrectionism in the face of political repression, a rejection of U.S capitalism, the championing of workers’ rights and above all, stories of continued resistance and remembrance. This ‘Poet as Witness’ series gives voice to only a few contemporaries working either within this diverse region or within its diaspora, representing the richness and multifaceted nature of the zone across different countries, experiences and literary voices.
With readings from Bessie Flores Zaldívar, Sheila Maldonado, Raquel Gutiérrez and Wingston González with translator Urayoán Noel.
Within the already esoteric window of contemporary writing from Latin America, there lies one of the smallest yet perhaps most significant epicenters for counterpoetics: Central America. A subregion of North America made up of only 7 countries, Central America stands as one of the most multi-ethnic and linguistically diverse regions of Latin America. Why then, when it comes to literary acknowledgments, is it too one of the most underrated?
Coined originally by Martinican theorist and poet Édouard Glissant in his 1981 work Le discours antillais and later reimagined in reference to Central American writing by scholar Karina Alma in her eponymous book Central American Counterpoetics: Diaspora and Rememory (UA Press 2024) the term: “counterpoetics” while fluid in its transmutations over the years, best describes marginalized poetic practices that oppose imperial, teleological visions of history.
Poets House hosted a night of Central American counterpoetics which carry with them amongst other things—the bold currents of insurrectionism in the face of political repression, a rejection of U.S capitalism, the championing of workers’ rights and above all, stories of continued resistance and remembrance. This ‘Poet as Witness’ series gives voice to only a few contemporaries working either within this diverse region or within its diaspora, representing the richness and multifaceted nature of the zone across different countries, experiences and literary voices.
With readings from Bessie Flores Zaldívar, Sheila Maldonado, Raquel Gutiérrez and Wingston González with translator Urayoán Noel.
