-Martín Espada

Martín Espada is a Puerto Rican Brooklynite whose career as a poet emerged from his activism. Armed with a law degree from Northeastern University, Espada fought for the rights of tenants and working people before publishing his first book of political poems, The Immigrant Iceboy’s Bolero (1984). “I see myself as a branch on the tree of Whitman,” he wrote, noting that “There are many, many branches.” As an activist-poet, Espada has said that the Whitman who most appeals to him is “Whitman the advocate... [who] takes it upon himself to become a voice for the voiceless.”