Just Do It

Festival Latino Poetry Night

by Mickey Jou

Now in its 25th year, Penn's Festival Latino has modified its typically academia-heavy agenda to give some shine to the artists.

Performances by Aztec dancers and a screening of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Amores Perros dot the itinerary, but this year's festival features a first: a Poetry Night. Members of the Excelano Project, a group of spoken-word artists at Penn, will represent Philly's Latino population. Don't expect them to shy away from uncomfortable but important topics; in the past, talking points included interracial dating and racial slurs. The group has been known to scream at, whisper to, beg or threaten the audience to get its point across.

New York-based Bobby Gonzalez is one of the nonlocal poets slated to perform. Much of the wordsmith's material addresses how Hispanic culture was born out of the clash between Europeans and South America's indigenous peoples. "This is not a standard history book in poetry form," he says. "The poem 'Columbus,' for example. For native people, Columbus is not a hero. He opened us up to genocide."

Tue., March 27, 7 p.m., free, University of Pennsylvania, Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk, 215-573-WRIT