Floaters: Poems
Martín Espada
Martín Espada | Photo by David González
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Ruth Lilly Prize-winning poet Martin Espada draws on a deep well of experiences as a Puerto Rican activist, lawyer, and poet in this electrifying latest collection, Floaters. The book runs the gamut from scathing socio-political commentaries on the state of cultural affairs, particularly during the Trump era, to poignant homage to family, love, and poetic influence. These visceral poems, at turns both sardonic and breathtaking, reflect the author’s commitment to immigrants’ rights, social justice, and Puerto Rico. The astonishing poems in the first section of the book offer caustic social commentaries on such racially charged events as the Charles and Mary Stuart case (“Jumping Off the Mystic Tobin Bridge”), the caging of immigrant children at the Texas-Mexico border (“Ode to the Soccer Ball Sailing Over a Barbed-Wire Fence”), and the drowning deaths of immigrant border crossers (“Floaters”). The eponymous poem, illuminating the death of two Salvadoran border crossers found washed ashore on the banks of the Rio Grande River, derives its title from Border Patrol agents who callously refer to drowned border crossers as “floaters.” Espada writes poignantly, “Like a beer bottle thrown into the river by a boy too drunk to cry, like the shard of a styrofoam cup drained of coffee brown as the river. . . the dead float. And the dead have a name: floaters say the men of the Border Patrol.” |
Later sections explore themes of family and love. An origin poem (“The Story of How We Came to America”) and a wry poem (“Why I Wait for the Soggy Tarantula of Spinach”) recount Espada’s parents’ first date. Love is aptly expressed in “I Would Steal a Car for You.” This affecting collection lays bare the author’s vulnerability and in doing so restores our faith in humanity. It is a necessary, evocative read.
Martin Espada is a poet, essayist, and translator. He is the recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and is a Pulitzer Prize finalist with his book The Republic of Poetry (1998). He has written more than 20 books, including 15 collections of poetry. He is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Floaters: Poems is a publication by W. W. Norton & Company and can be purchased online at The Bronx is Reading.
Martin Espada is a poet, essayist, and translator. He is the recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and is a Pulitzer Prize finalist with his book The Republic of Poetry (1998). He has written more than 20 books, including 15 collections of poetry. He is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Floaters: Poems is a publication by W. W. Norton & Company and can be purchased online at The Bronx is Reading.
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