The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Aixa Adelle Ardín Pauneto, also known as Cheryl Roster Gomez, Okau Vera and Airti Aguirre, was born in 1967 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They are a non-binary poet, programmer, photographer and translator. Ardín Pauneto is the author of Batiborrillo, Epifonema de un amor, and La mano izquierda, and the first place winner of the 1990 Certamen de la Semana de la Lengua de la Universidad Interamericana-Metro. They obtained their B.A. in General Studies with a concentration in Multidisciplinary Linguistic Studies from the University of Puerto Rico. Their work has been influenced by figures such as Luis Palés Matos, Clara Lair, Julia de Burgos, Mario Benedetti, Nemir Matos Cintrón, Pedro Salinas, Ángela María Dávila, W.H. Auden, Edgar Alan  Poe, Emily Dickinson, Gloria Fuertes, Anna Quindlen, Erma Bombeck and Ntozake Shange. They have published poems in Voces, Claridad, Los otros cuerpos: Antología de temática gay, lésbica y queer desde Puerto Rico y su diáspora, Chachaperismos and Ejército de rosas. They currently reside in Tacoma, Washington.

Works Cited

Ardín Pauneto, Aixa A. Interview. Conducted by Roque Raquel Salas Rivera, 10 Dec. 2021.