This larger-than-life sculpture of Puerto Rico national poet Julia de Burgos stands in a small park surrounded by stone poles that present her poems and a colorful mosaic of her portrait on a round wall. The statue is only a few minutes walk from the Julia de Burgos Mausoleum, where a replica of this statue stands next to her grave site. To repair the damages hurricanes Irma and María had caused and to celebrate the 108th anniversary of de Burgos’s birthday, the city of Carolina reconstructed the Julia de Burgos Mausoleum and planted a garden. The Puerto Rican sculptor and graphic artist Rafael Lopez del Campo (1936-2009) sculpted this sculpture. Julia de Burgos (1914-1953) was born in Carolina, the oldest of thirteen children (only 7 survived to adulthood). She wrote poetry early in her life, as she said- “My childhood was all a poem in the river, and a river in the poem of my first dreams.” At 19, de Burgos graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a teaching degree. In her early twenties, she got married, divorced, quit teaching, and became a published writer. De Burgos frequently wrote for journals and newspapers and promoted her poetry collection books on tours across the island. In 1936, de Burgos joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and became politically active. Her love life led her to Cuba and then New York City. Living outside her country was one of the topics for her writing. She wrote a lot about identity and her Puerto Rican nationality, as well as on love, feminism, and universal social justice. She tragically died in NYC when she was only 39. Read more...