Sonnet

Josef Reuther
Sonnet

Shall I compare thy to a great full moon
who's light shines bright even in the darkest place.
Jealous stars dance to your marvelous tune
you illuminate my world with such grace.
Regardless of where, you love to beam clear
your reflection glistens on the river
you are so far away yet you seem so near.
But when clouds rule the sky you become hidden.
Dark my world becomes when you are absent
To the clouds in the sky you are forbidden
However my thoughts are about you constant
You guide me when no one else seems to care
and lead my path when no one else is there.

Martin Espada

Josef Reuther

Martin Espada

                  All of Martin Espada's poems talk about discrimination in our world and try to raise awareness to this subject specifically for Latin Americans. Espada's poems talk about the injustices done to Latinos and how in some cases others are denying even their culture.

                  One piece of evidence that substantiates this claim about the discrimination found in Espada's poems is his poem called "The New Bathroom Policy at English High School." In this poem Espada focuses on a High School where a principal hears Spanish being spoken amongst boys in the bathroom and cannot understand anything besides his own name. "The boys chatter Spanish in the bathroom while the principal listens from his stall / The only word he recognizes / is his own name," as Espada writes. As a result the principal decides to abuse the power entrusted in him and bans Spanish from being spoken within the bathroom of the school. This principal is denying these Spanish boys a part of their culture and is discriminating against their race simply because it is different from his and because he cannot understand what they are saying. As can clearly be seen this poem focuses on the discrimination of Latinos and the attempt at removing a part of their culture like their language.

            Another piece of evidence that supports this claim about discrimination being featured in Espada's poems, is his poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" which focuses on what Martin Espada would like to do every time his name is mispronounced and not in the authentic Spanish way. "I want to buy a toy pistol, / put on dark sunglasses,/ hijack a busload/ of Republican tourists," Espada writes. He targets Republicans, for he feels they tend to discriminate and show less kindness to Latinos. "And wait/ for the bilingual SWAT team / to helicopter overhead, / begging me / to be reasonable," Espada adds. Rather ironically the people discriminating against him have the SWAT acting as their little protective angels when he himself has no protection against discrimination. As can be seen the discrimination that Martin Espada and other Latinos face clearly frustrates him to the point where he thinks about going to such extremes.

                  One last piece of evidence that corroborates this claim about discrimination in Espada's poems is his poem called "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877" which focuses on the hanging of two Mexicans by "gringos" in 1877. "When forty gringo vigilantes / cheered the rope / that snapped two Mexicanos / into the grimacing sleep of broken necks," as Espada wrote. These Mexicans were killed for no apparent reason by whites who overpowered them. The fact that Espada uses the word gringo for whites expresses a certain dislike he has towards them.  Espada talks about the injustice and brutalities done to these Latinos merely because they looked different from the whites doing this to them.

                  Espada's poetry tries to get people to think of Latinos who are being discriminated against. Discrimination and the denying of a certain culture is a common global issue and Martin Espada's poems raise awareness to this pressing topic.