Diego Báez

Words Chosen for the Wall

Arts & Literature

“In Words Chosen for the Wall, Harold Recinos sings an urban song of barrio youth who grapple against a nation intent on their destruction, while proudly tagging tenement walls with ‘Ora Pro Nobis!’ With rhythmic consistency, Recinos hews columnar stanzas that stand like lyrical candlesticks lit for Spanish Mass, like stipes of a bisected crucifix, like love letters inscribed on posts of cedar, pine, or cypress. With an interrogatory spirit and indelible voice, Recinos refines his poetics of Americana, class struggle, and Catholic liberation.”