Tato Laviera, Nuyorican Poet, Dies at 63

By David Gonzalez, The New York Times

Tato Laviera lost his sight, but not his vision. His acclaimed poems and plays captured the rhythms and language of Puerto Rico and the Lower East Side — his twin loves — with equal measures of protest, playfulness and hope.

When health problems briefly left him homeless in 2010, he took part in poetry readings with residents of the shelter where he stayed. “I can create here, and that makes me feel liberated,” he said in an interview at the time. “Being here has given me the spirit of continuity and centrality, and that’s better than a salary.”

Mr. Laviera, who had been in a coma since late January, died on Friday in Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

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[Photo courtesy of The Poetry Foundation]