Toledo poet launches book

Yesterday Leroy “The Grandmaster” Young launched his latest anthology of poems at the Fort George Education Center. Today another poet traveled up to Belize City from Punta Gorda to do a little promotion for his new book. Vet by day, poet by night Luis Palacio spoke to News Five about why he got into poetry, his favorite poem and his book, “Suga Rosi.”

Ludwig Palacio, Poet

“Recently I just came out with a book entitled Suga Rosi and the name is coined from two words: sugar cane and serosi. If you put the two together you get suga rosi, which means bitter sweet and I think life is bitter sweet.”

“I think it’s a gift that I’ve been experimenting with very early. When I was a young boy growing up in Punta Gorda town, I noticed all the poetry, all the plays that were acted on stage were imported from somewhere else and that’s why I decided that poetry is everywhere, drama is everywhere. It’s just a matter of putting it together and getting it on stage.”

“I think the poem I like most in the book is “I Am Rich.” Because generally speaking, Belizeans like to embody themselves in “we’re poor and we can’t achieve” and things like so I am trying to change that mentality, change that concept to one of richness because indeed we’re rich. We take things for granted, the environment, the air we breathe, the water we drink. Resources is bigger than money.”

Unfortunately, Palacio’s book sales have also been bittersweet. If you are interested in picking up a copy, please contact Ludwig Palacio in Punta Gorda.