ROCKLAND — Poet Richard Blanco will appear live on 21st Century Bohemian program on WRFR 93.3 Rockland/99.3 Camden on Tuesday, May 29. The program begins at 6 p.m. Selected by President Obama as the fifth US presidential inaugural poet, he joined the ranks of such luminary poets as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. The youngest, first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role, he read his inaugural poem, "One Today," at the official ceremony.

Blanco has said he was made in Cuba, assembled in Spain, and imported to the United States – as his mother, seven months pregnant, and the rest of the family arrived as exiles from Cuba to Madrid where he was born. Only forty-five days later the family immigrated once more and settled in Miami, where he was raised and educated. The negotiation of cultural identity and universal themes of place and belonging characterize his body of work.

Show host and producer Teresa Piccari will welcome Blanco into the studio to read from and talk about his newest collection, Boundaries, a collaboration with landscape photographer Jacob Hessler, currently on exhibition at Center for Maine Contemporary Art. The work investigates the visible and invisible boundaries of race, gender, class, and ethnicity, among many others.

Blanco is the author of several poetry collections and the memoirs The Prince of Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood and For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet's Journey. He has been a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow and received honorary doctorates from Macalester College, Colby College, and the University of Rhode Island. Among his many awards and honors was the Academy of American Poets naming him as its first Education Ambassador in 2015. He has continued to write occasional poems for organizations and events such as the re-opening of the US embassy in Havana. He lives with his partner in Bethel, Maine. Learn more at www.richard-blanco.com. 

Every Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., 21st Century Bohemian transmits an exploration of creativity over the local airwaves, through the voices and creative process of various artists, musicians and writers. For more information on the 21st Century Bohemian program and the many other community radio offerings from WRFR in Rockland, please visit wrfr.org. 

Teresa Piccari is a local writer and proprietor of The Village Scribe, which provides professional copywriting and editing, writing workshops, and coaching for artists of all genres. Piccari has written The 21st Century Bohemian creativity column, appearing in Inner Tapestry, for over a decade. Among her current projects is a poetry manuscript entitled Laying Down Armor. For more information contact Teresa Piccari at 21stBohemian@gmail.com or visit her on Facebook.