A bite out of rhyme

Pulitzer Prize finalist Martin Espada visited UCF to share some of his culturally-charged poems Thursday in the Student Union.

Many of the poems Espada read were related to his own experiences and Puerto Rican heritage. This personal writing helped some members of the audience connect with Espada.

"Through his words, I felt as if I knew him all my life," said Christopher Alvarez, vice president of the Hispanic-American Student Association. "He was able to connect with his audience even though his literature is both in Spanish and English."

A former bouncer, primate-laboratory worker, janitor, printing specialist, door-to-door encyclopedia salesman and attorney, Espada incorporates many interesting experiences into the work he shares with the world.

His Puerto Rican descent is the focus of much of his work. His poems detail his trips to Puerto Rico, and much of his work focuses on the hardships and culture of Puerto Rican immigrant workers in the United States today.

Espada told his audience that even as an attorney he would only defend the poor and less fortunate.

Espada has traveled the world reading his poetry. He has recently returned from Stavanger, Norway and has also performed in places like Hollywood, Calif.

Espada visited Orlando before and read at Hola Fest, which is where Kevin Meehan, an associate English professor, discovered Espada for the first time.

The event proved difficult to organize for Meehan and other volunteers due to initial lack of funding and the availability of the Garden Room. The Burnett Honors College, HASA, the English department and Undergraduate Studies came together to support the reading. Organizers felt that the event was very successful.

Espada said he was thrilled to see every seat occupied, not only by UCF students and faculty, but also by people from the outside community.

Meehan opened the reading by thanking the various sponsors for making the reading possible and also went on to explain his personal connection to Espada's poems.

"Martin Espada's work celebrates and dignifies the working life and also combines the aesthetic and political in a unique way," Meehan said.

Espada opened by reading En la calle San Sebastian, a poem about the music brought to Puerto Rico by African slaves.

His hand waving and deep-voiced poetry left many audience members with both tears and smiles on their faces. "Wow!" was the murmured expression heard after each poem.

Although the issues presented in Espada's poem were at times heavy, he kept the audience alive with his sense of humor and vivid storytelling abilities.

"He has a very dramatic style of reading and it amplifies what is already said in his poetry," Meehan said.

Toward the final reading, Espada talked about his own father's involvement in the Civil Rights movement.

Espada said his father, whom he sees as an "unsung hero," was a subject of racial hatred during the movement because of his Puerto Rican descent. Espada said his father was arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus.

One of the poems Espada read, titled Sleeping on the Bus, spoke of the struggles Espada's father faced.

Another of Espada's heroes who influenced his work was Pablo Neruda, a Chilean writer. Espada has traveled to Chile to celebrate Neruda's life and work.

Following the reading, Espada signed books for devoted fans. UCF bookstore workers were also present to sell two of the books Espada read from.

Aside from the 14 books Espada has written, his poems have been published in magazines such as The New Yorker.

Espada's latest book, The Republic of Poetry, was recently chosen as a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. His work is often nominated for esteemed awards, but this does not affect Espada's motives or attitude toward his poetry.

"I do what I do because I think I should say what I need," Espada said.

Espada is currently a professor at the University of Massachusetts, but said that no matter his career, he has always and will always be a poet first.