(ENSPIRE She Did That) Poet, Mother, and Latinx Icon Luivette Resto Releases Her Third Book of Poetry

Interviewed by Phitchaya Thongthai
FROM: Enspire

A celebration of personal history and self, Luivette Resto’s latest poetry collection is her most vulnerable and powerful yet. Living on Islands Not Found on Maps traces Resto’s Puerto-Rican roots to her upbringing in The Bronx. The poems delve into her identity as a mother, survivor, linguist, lover, and woman. Subjects that, although personal, are extremely relevant in our current social and political climate. The anthology, which was published in March 2022, includes life lessons from Audre Lorde, Tina Turner, Nikki Giovanni, and ‌from Resto’s own ancestors, children, and personal experiences. Living on Islands Not Found on Maps is a piece that is poignant and relatable to women across generations and geographies with universal themes of femininity, all the while maintaining its integrity as Resto’s own story. 

Luivette Resto was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. Raised in the Bronx, she is, ‌foremost, a mother, teacher, and poet. Resto was the first in her family to attend and graduate college, receiving her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her accolades extend to being a Macondo and CantoMundo fellow, as well as a Pushcart Prize nominee. These literary feats stem from her passion for poetry and socially engaged works. Resto’s writing encompasses what it means to be Latinx, a woman, a first-generation immigrant, and what it means to exist beyond the binaries. Her poems engage in extremely relevant conversations about love and cultural identity.

ENSPIRE spoke with Resto to learn more about her and her experience writing Living on Islands Not Found on Maps.

How does this book differ from your previous works?

This collection took 9 years to write and revise, and in those 9 years, so much of my life has changed. My spouse moved out and co-parenting became the new norm for me and my kids. I got a full-time job teaching English to middle schoolers, a deviation from teaching at the college level. I share this because these life-altering experiences seeped into the making of this book. I had less time to revise the collection because of my new life. Also, some poems no longer reflected where I was and where I was going, so they were taken out. However, new ones made their way into the collection as I made a new circle of friends, started dating, and made a commitment to my mental and emotional health with therapy and support groups. All of this is attributed to the language and thematic choices in the book. Read Rest of Interview Here