When Julia de Burgos returned to NYC in 1942, she became a full-time journalist for the Pueblos Hispanos. She wrote numerous articles and poems that uplifted impoverished Latino communities in NYC and fought for the independence of Puerto Rico. Burgos wanted her fellow people to feel comfortable in this foreign city, but also retain their cultural identity. Moreover, she wanted Latino communities to never forget where they came from by retaining their nation’s traditions and customs. Her writings also seem to illustrate the experiences of immigrants, particularly Cubans, Dominicans, and Puerto Ricans, in NYC. One poem that epitomizes their experiences is: Soy En Cuerpo De Ahora (I Am Embodied in Now).
The opening stanza of the poem seems to show the uncertainty and fears that come with moving to a foreign country:
How this load of centuries wants to knock me down
that on my back drinks the current of time!
Time never changing that stagnates in the centuries
and that nurtures its body with past reflections.
Many Hispanic immigrants felt this load bearing down on them when they first arrived in NYC. A lot of uncertainly was clouding over them in which many did not know where they would work, live, or even go to Church. Many were not even sure how they would provide food for their families. Hispanic immigrants also faced the challenge of dealing with native New Yorkers who may have not been too receptive of their arrival. Many Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans faced racism and prejudices from other New Yorkers who probably viewed them as inferior or foreigners coming in to take their jobs. This negativity represents the “load” that Burgos refers to in the stanza. The stanza also mentions “Time never changing…/nurtures its body with past reflections.” It seems that Burgos describes this xenophobia of the Latinos as being nurtured by previous experiences such as shaky political affairs (communism & Fidel Castro in Cuba, dealing with ruthless dictators/governments in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic), or subjective instances which caused people to make harsh generalizations about the Latino community.
So, not only were Latinos facing the challenge of coming into a new country/city, but also bias treatment by “fellow” Americans. Burgos sheds light on this truth and seems to symbolically parallel the weight of their fears and their dealings with prejudices to the harsh circumstances that they were coming from. Moreover, many Latino immigrants came from impoverished countries with either a ruthless dictator or harsh government. It is bit ironic that they came to the United States, particularly NYC, to escape these difficulties, only to be met with the same adversities upon their arrival. However, Burgos’s words provide hope and motivation for the Latino people.
The second stanza seems to imply that although many will try to bring the Latino people down, it is important to persist and hold onto one’s true identity:
I am afraid of the height of your ambitions-it tells me-;
the yesterday that nurtures me bends in the interior
of your simple life that admits no past
and that lives in the alive, open to the moment;
now the always nakedness of your mind angers me,
repels my load and expands in the new;
it confuses me now in the svelteness of your idea
that flagellates my face and straightens your body…
look to one side and another: hunchbacks, mediocrities;
they are mine, the ones who water my always full vacuum;
be one of them; untwist your vanguard; limp;
it’s so easy to flip from the live to the dead.
Like the previous stanza, Burgos throws light at the challenges that Hispanic immigrants dealt with when they first arrived in NYC. However, she provides hope and motivation by calling for Hispanics to embrace the moment. To embrace the uncertainty, or to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Although it is a new situation/challenge (“a new height”), Burgos is confident that Latino immigrants will rise to the occasion. Through her symbolic words, Burgos inspires her fellow people to not lose their cultural identity and to not allow any one’s negativity destroy their goals or change who they truly are. She also inspires them to continue living a full life and not to “flip to the dead”/become dull or complacent.
The third, fourth and fifth stanzas show even more motivation that such negativity can never, and should never, break one’s spirit and ambitions:
You have wanted to knock me down, load in the body of centuries
of prejudices, of hatreds, of passions, of jealousies.

You have wanted to know me down with your heavy load
But I found myself, and your effort was in vain.

Go, line your centuries with the vulgar ignorant;
my ambitions are not yours, my flights are not yours.
These stanzas show how many Hispanic immigrants dealt with many negativities when they first arrived, but how this negativity should never prevent them from reaching their goals. Like Burgos said previously, Hispanics have already dealt with centuries of prejudices, hatreds, and violence that nothing else seems difficult or unexpected. She tries to draw a silver lining in which Burgos seems to imply: we have gone through so many adversities, what else could be as worse. So, Burgos wants her fellow people to feel more power, to not let anyone’s ignorance or vulgar comments stop them from achieving their dreams, and to truly find their place in life.
The final stanza epitomizes how Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican immigrants felt:
I am embodied in now; about yesterday I know nothing.
In the alive, my life knows that I Am of the new.
Many indeed felt fears, but also believed this new and unknown challenge of living and surviving in NYC would be worthwhile. That whatever happened in the past is in the past; they can only control what is happening now. Moreover, Latino immigrants came with the mindset of working hard, enjoying life, providing for their families, and accomplishing their goals. This migration to NYC was not seen as fear, but as hope and a rejuvenated opportunity for a fresh start.
Overall, this poem truly epitomizes the Hispanic immigrant experience in NYC, and as a matter of fact, many different ethnic experiences in NYC. People come to NYC with fear of what to expect and how to survive. Yet, many embraced the challenge and realized that this opportunity does not come too often; thus, it is important to seize the moment and not let the past dissuade your present actions. Life is all about living in the present, while also learning from the past, but not allowing prior failures to harmfully affect your current aspirations. Burgos was an inspirational writer who provided many Hispanics in her area and throughout NYC the hope that things will always get better, and the motivation to keep striving for your dreams.

Bibliography
Love Thy Neighbor- Julia de Burgos. Across106thstreet. 28 April 2011.
www.across106thstreet.com/2011/04/28/love-thy-neighbor-julia-de-burgos/
Rocío Contreras Romo, María del. Los caminos de la identidad, la poesía de Julia de Burgos.
Biblioteca Virtual Universal, 2009. www.biblioteca.org.ar/libros/151943.pdf