Words of Peace, Voices of Many: Hostos Launches Poetry Anthology on 57th Anniversary

Words of Peace, Voices of Many: Hostos Launches Poetry Anthology on 57th Anniversary
 

Some of the poets after the book launch with Hostos President Daisy Cocco De Filippis (third, L-R).

On April 22, as Hostos Community College celebrated its 57th anniversary, the campus honored both its rich history and its dynamic present with the launch of “Peace & Poetry: An Anthology,” a collection that reflects the College’s founding values of access, equity, and community. The book brings together the voices of renowned guest poets, students, faculty, and staff who participated in the 2023 and 2024 Peace & Poetry events.
“We are proud of this creation, of this moment that brought together our students, our faculty, our staff, and our administration,” said Hostos President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, the convener of the anthology. “It is a beautiful thing to come together and share our humanity, to create a space where we can put our hearts into the world through poetry.”
 
President Cocco De Filippis, a scholar of Dominican literature and poetry herself, framed the anthology within a broader literary tradition, drawing from the wisdom of Rainer Maria Rilke, the German Romantic poet whose letters to a young poet written between 1902-08 have offered generations of artists guidance and solace. Quoting from Rilke’s advice to embrace uncertainty, she read: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves... Perhaps you will gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” For President Cocco De Filippis, Rilke’s call to live with the questions resonated deeply with the purpose of the anthology: to be a space where contributors could explore, express, and confront the complexities of their times.
   
In that spirit, the event’s co-moderators, Michelle-Lee St. Marthe, Associate Director to the Chief of Staff, and José R. García, Brand, Creative Services and Communications Associate, guided the audience through the morning’s program. “It was an honor to work alongside such a passionate group to bring this publication to life,” said St. Marthe, underscoring the collective care that shaped the project.
 

 


Professor Soto-Franco before reading his poem dedicated to the victims of the Jet Set nightclub tragedy in the Dominican Republic.

 
The program featured a special reading from English Professor Juan Soto-Franco, who shared a poem written in response to the tragic Jet Set nightclub collapse in the Dominican Republic. “This piece emerged inspired by that heartbreaking moment,” Soto-Franco said before delivering his verses. His reading exemplified the anthology’s intent: to offer poetry as a means of reckoning with sorrow, memory, and hope. The tragedy in question occurred on April 8, 2025, when the roof of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo collapsed during a merengue concert, resulting in the deaths of at least 231 people and injuring over 200 others. Among the victims were prominent figures such as merengue singer Rubby Pérez, former Major League Baseball players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco, and local government leaders from the island, including Monte Cristi province governor Nelsy Cruz.
 
As the room sat with the weight of Soto-Franco’s words and the memory of such profound loss, the program shifted toward the origins of the anthology itself. Sarah Key, a central member of the editorial team, shared the genesis of the project, tracing it back to October 2023. “My daily reading of The New York Times was becoming a ritual of sadness,” she recalled, reflecting on the weight of global crises from wars to climate devastation and threats to democracy. One morning, she said, the words “peace” and “poetry” simply appeared in her mind. “I didn’t know what I meant at first,” she laughed, “but I knew I didn’t have to invent anything. The ‘we’ of Hostos came together to make sense of it.”
 

 

Key offered moving remarks about the idea behind the Peace & Poetry events.

 
Key credited the anthology’s success to the collaborative energy of the Hostos community, highlighting the contributions of Sofía Oviedo, Research Programs Director, José García, Catherine Lewis and her students, Michelle-Lee St. Marthe, and Dr. Tran Nguyen, among others.
 

 

Philip Oliveri, Chief Diversity Officer, was one of the senior leaders who contributed to the anthology.

 
As García resumed moderating, the program continued with live readings from the anthology’s contributors, including Student Government Association President Dainma Martínez. Each poet offered a distinct vision of peace, whether through personal struggle, cultural memory, or dreams of collective liberation, reminding all present that peace, much like poetry, takes many forms and speaks many languages. The other participating poets were alumna Janete Da Silva; Professors Elizabeth García de Souza, Natasha Lorca Yannacañedo; staff members Philip Oliveri; and students Lauren Genao, Kyanna Pratt, Anjanet Thomas, and Sterling Wynn.
   
The anthology will be officially published in the coming weeks and shared with the College community and general public. To obtain a copy, please email publicrelations@hostos.cuny.edu.
 
The College is delighted that this chorus of voices will see the world and represent the spirit of Hostos, ever evolving, ever seeking.
 

 
Student Kyanna Pratt read a poem about motherhood and the shifting dynamics about becoming a mother while being a student and a daughter.