Here Is an Ear Hear by Victor Hernández Cruz : Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Project

Here Is an Ear Hear

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Victor Hernandez Cruz was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. He moved to New York City with his family when he was five years old, but he

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By Victor Hernández Cruz

Is the ocean really inside seashells

or is it all in your mind?

—PICHON DE LA ONCE

Behold and soak like a sponge.

I have discovered that the island of Puerto Rico

is the ears of Saru-Saru, a poet reputed to have lived

in Atlantis. On the day that the water kissed and

embraced and filled all the holes of that giant

missing link, this bard’s curiosity was the greatest

for he kept swimming and listening for causes.

He picked up rocks before they sank and blew

wind viciously into them. Finally he blew so hard

into a rock that he busted his ear drums; angry,

he recited poems as he tried turning into a bird

to fly to green Brazil. His left ear opened up

like a canal and a rock lodged in it. Rock attracts

rock and many rocks attached to this rock. It got

like a rocket. His ear stayed with it in a horizontal

position. Finally after so many generations he got

to hear what he most wanted: the sounds made by flowers

as they stretched into the light. Behold, I have

discovered that the island of Puerto Rico is the

ears of Saru-Saru.