Poetry

It is an occasion for remembrance, reflection and deep regret.read more

What moved me beyond the appropriate and the poetic was Blanco’s insertion of the personal.read more

How Auden, Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, June Jordan, Wendell Berry, Martín Espada, Irena Klepfisz, Marilyn Hacker, and Marge Piercy show us how to move the rock of history.read more

Grass’s words are not the words of an anti-Semite. They are the words of a man of conscience and a man of peace, daring to speak out even as he knows the slurs are coming.read more

Reading Rich’s words would be the catalytic event that moved my writing closer to what I wanted to write: a book in which my name, my experience, did appear.read more

The progressive movement will miss her leadership. America will miss her stalwart conscience.read more

‘I happen to think poetry makes a huge difference.’read more

By Martín Espada

Not long ago, I read an article by Matt Rothschild on The Progressive website called, "Banned in Tucson." This was the first time I had seen the actual reading list of the forbidden Mexican-American Studies Department.

One of my own books, Zapata's Disciple: Essays (South End Press, 1998), is on the list. Indeed, this book has been banned before—by the Texas state penal system, on the grounds that it might incite the inmates to riot.read more

In the wake of the recent massacre in Arizona, we face a flood of questions. Why did this happen? Who bears responsibility? How can tragedies like this be prevented? Today's poem, by spoken word troupe The Suicide Kings, confronts the reality of guns; the conduits of death whose role is often eclipsed by the names and faces of their users and victims.read more

It's a new year, and we pray it will be a year of greater peace, fuller justice, and shared union with the earth. Truth is, we know all that won't happen in 2011. So as we build our movements and go through our daily struggles, do as the late, great Tupac Shakur - the most influential poet of the last 20 years - says, and keep ya head up. read more

THE SPOKEN WORD ARCHIVE