Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. "A Boricua poet now rooted in Chicago, Frank Varela is a strong voice offering testimony to the resilience of the Puerto Rican diaspora. These are poems that pay homage, to Crazy Willie, to the doomed Paulina, to his Korean War veteran uncle, in the language of real, lived experience. This is a poet who wants to send Willie Colon and his salsa into outer space, who tells us of forgotten African gods and the 'spics banished to Chicago' for forgetting. For his passion and his clarity, his humor and his memory, I welcome Frank Varela"—Martín Espada.