José Angel Figueroa (born November 28, 1946) is a Puerto Rican poet, actor, author, editor, and a professor in the Humanities who has published poetry, fiction, and drama in the United States.
[2] His family were migrant workers until they achieved financial stability and settled down in the Southeast Bronx, New York], where he graduated from Morris High School.
Figueroa is a professor of Puerto Rican, Latin American & Caribbean Literature, English Composition, and Creative Writing at Boricua College in the Bronx.JAF [4][3] José Angel Figueroa has also made important contributions to anthologies, literary journals and magazines such as The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America, Hispanic Condition: Reflections on Culture & Identity, Harvard Educational Review, Revista Chicano-Riqueña, Black Creation, Latin NY, From the Belly of the Shark, Latin American Voices, For Chile, For Neruda, Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings, Puerto Rican Writers at Home in the USA, Papiros De Babel: Antología de la poesía puertorriqueña en Nueva York, Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Red, White, and Blues: Poets On The Promise of America, Caribbean Erotic, and Amanecida: Antología Homenaje a Julia De Burgos.
Many of his poems use wordplay in conjunction with mixed language and Spanglish, which creates a sense of confusion for the reader and demonstrates the complexity and layers of the lifestyle that many in the community live.
He uses his pattern poems to emphasize the space that cannot necessarily be filled between English and Spanish: the words that don't translate and the experiences that are unique to immigrants and especially, Puerto Ricans in New York.