Vivas to Those Who Have Failed Poems [Paperback]

In a passionate collection that is socially conscious and personal, ecstatic and elegiac all at once, Martin Espadas collection of poemsA poet with a remarkable vision.[Espada] writes as if we dont have that much timeleft.Showcases some of Mart?n Espadas most powerfulwriting in years.This poets work breathes life into those who failedthe downtrodden,the forgotten, and the deadso that their voices may speak to us now&.Espadaspoems act as a salve for todays violence, just as Whitmans poems dress thewounds of the Civil War.Espada at his brilliant best, the poet laureate of our New America, with a voice that breaks heart, gives courage and burns all illusions.In the battle against forgetfulness, in the ongoing war against dumb distraction and voluntary blindness, Mart?n Espada is our Subcomandante. With an ear sweetened by long listening to voices most often unheard, he writes poems that resonate like bells forged of bronze and blood.Mart?n Espada is one of the few poets in our time who really matters, because his words matter, and the people and the world he writes about matter. One thinks of Neruda, of Whitman, of Philip Levine as one finds oneself caught up by the magic of Espadas voice.Memorable, vital, heart-stopping poems. Eloquent in his celebration of those whose names and faces are rubbed off / by oblivions thumb like a Roman coin, laureate of ballparks and boxing rings, mad love and workers strikes, moving elegist& Mart?n Espada is an essentially American poet and true son of Walt Whitman.In his tenderly elegiac, yet fierce collection&Espadas poems continue to define the role of the poet as an emotional historian. Like Whitman, Espada stirs in us an undeniable social consciousness and connectedness.Award-winning poet Mart?n Espada gives voice to the spirit of endurance in the face of loss.