Noel Quinones has the big lovely voice I hear in poets like Natalie Diaz and Terrence Hayes, but there is also a tenderness and clarity to his language that makes his work unique; in “Guineitos” Quinones gives us a picture of the Bronx illuminated and measure by the love of generations of his family; at the core, this poem is a love song to this family and to his city, and his wonderful AfroBoricua voice and Latino lyricism ululate sweetly as we move down the page. The shifts Quinones makes to his speaker work perfectly and I was happy to go back into this poem to experience his sure hand as he converted me to his unique perspective, rhythm, and sound. This is a poem of pure evocative history.
