We Live by What We See at Night (For Further Study)

For Further Study

• Espada, Martín, A Mayan Astronomer in Hell’s Kitchen, W. W. Norton, 2000.

  Espada’s most recent collection of poetry continues his themes of displacement and despair among various groups of people. Here, he includes a nun staging a White House vigil to protest her torture and a man on death row mourning the loss of his books.

• — — — , ed., El Coro: A Chorus of Latino and Latina Poetry, University of Massachusetts Press, 1997.

  This is an excellent cross-section of contemporary Latino and Latina works. Poets range from farm workers and gang members to a medical doctor and professional chef.

• Ortiz Cofer, Judith, The Latin Deli: Prose and Poetry, University of Georgia Press, 1993.

  Like Espada, Judith Ortiz Cofer is a first-generation Puerto Rican poet who grew up in a barrio in an American city. This is a collection of poems, essays, and short fiction that discuss Cofer’s struggles with a cross-cultural childhood. Its themes are the same as those in “We Live by What We See at Night”.

• Ratiner, Steven, “Martin Espada: Poetry and the Burden of History,” The Christian Science Monitor Electronic Edition, www.csmonitor.com (March 6, 1991).

  In this online interview with Espada, Ratiner calls Espada’s poetry “ferocious, tender, ardently political, [and] touchingly biographical.” Reading Espada’s responses to the questions is helpful in understanding his poetry.