Poet of the Day: Martín Espada

[primeideal]

Martín Espada's Poetry Foundation biography notes that he "has worked as an attorney, salesman, clerk, telephone solicitor, gas station attendant, bouncer, bartender, and printing plant bindery worker; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, professor of English." Espada was born in Brooklyn in 1957, and his first book of poetry included photographs taken by his father. I enjoy his careful use of lineation to surprise readers, as in "For the Jim Crow Mexican Restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts where my cousin Esteban was forbidden to wait tables because he wears dreadlocks" (yes, all of that is the title).

"Rules for Captain Ahab’s Provincetown Poetry Workshop" is available on the Poetry Foundation website.
1. Ye shall be free to write a poem on any subject, as long as it’s the White Whale.
2. A gold doubloon shall be granted to the first among ye who in a poem sights the White Whale.
3. The Call Me Ishmael Award shall be given to the best poem about the White Whale, with publication in The White Whale Review.
4. The Herman Melville Memorial Picnic and Softball Game shall be open to whosoever of ye writes a poem about following thy Captain into the maw of hell to kill the White Whale.
5. There shall be a free floating coffin for any workshop participant who falls overboard whilst writing a poem about the White Whale.
6. There shall be a free leg, carved from the jawbone of a whale, for any workshop participant who is dismasted whilst writing a poem about the White Whale.
7. There shall be a free funeral at sea, complete with a chorus of stout hearties singing sea chanteys about the White Whale, for any workshop participant who is decapitated whilst writing a poem about the White Whale.
8. Ye who seek not the White Whale in thy poems shall be harpooned.

Comments

[primeideal]

Isn't it! I knew he was excellent but just discovered this one today.

Just realized I copied and pasted and lost formatting, off to edit this a smidge.