On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by Martín Espada who has just published a new volume of poetry, Jailbreak of Sparrows. Espada is a longtime friend of WORT and former Madisonian. He reads from his collection on the air and discusses the supple power of language. 

Ruff asks Espada about the importance of his father, Frank Espada, who was a civil rights activist, documentary photographer, and a leader in the Puerto Rican community in New York City in the 60s and 70s. Espada’s father plays an important role in his body of work. 

Espada reminds listeners that progress isn’t linear, it “loops in figures of eight.” He reflects on Donald Trump’s use of the poem, “The Snake,” and says that mass deportations require mass collaboration; but we can refuse to collaborate. Espada says that poets endure by writing engaged poems.

Martín Espada has published more than twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist, and translator, including Floaters, winner of the National Book Award, Vivas to Those Who Have Failed, and The Republic of Poetry, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His many honors include the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Featured image: the cover of Jailbreak of Sparrows. 

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