Poet, alumnus returns to campus for landmark reading

Prize-winning poet Martín Espada has sometimes been referred to as “the Pablo Neruda of North American authors.” Like the great Chilean poet, whose work he now teaches, Espada’s life and work have had many facets. Neruda speaks most to Espada as a poet of justice, an advocate for those who remain unheard.

Through a career marked by politics, protest and — above all — people, Espada’s journey as a literary activist has led him to seek common ground among many disparate factions. In a somewhat-serendipitous turn, this journey has also taken him through Madison; he graduated with a B.A. in history in 1981.

In his first formal visit to campus since his student days, Espada will read from his work at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 30, at the Pyle Center. He will also present two brown-bag discussions in conjunction with the history department. On April 30, Espada presents “The Redemption of Pablo Neruda,” focusing on the Nobel laureate and his often-strained relationship with his home country of Chile. On Friday, May 1, Espada discusses “Colonialism and the Poetry of Rebellion,” outlining Puerto Rico and its poetry of rebellion and unacknowledged colonalism. Both discussions take place at noon in the Curti Lounge, 5233 Mosse Humanities Building.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Espada’s work touches on the unrest of South America and the postcolonial conflict of Puerto Rico, the land of his ancestors. After a stint as a tenant lawyer in Boston, he now teaches creative writing and poetry at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Espada’s poetry, at once humorous and searing, emphasizes what he calls “the art of the concise”: the density and intensity of language that allows a single page of poetry to accomplish the equivalent of 100 pages by a historian. He cites the visceral feelings and the ability to communicate at a “gut level” that continue to attract him to poetry.

Though Espada has read in Madison, he has never read in an “official” capacity through the university. This visit, then, serves as a homecoming of sorts. Though he chose UW–Madison almost randomly — “I had very little idea of where it was, but I’d heard it was a good school” — he values the formative experiences he had here. His former professor, Steve Stern, now vice provost for faculty and staff, helped organize Espada’s visit after attending a Madison reading last year.

Stern and Espada’s continued relationship has proven beneficial in other ways. Espada’s most recent manuscript includes a poem about Chile written with Stern’s assistance. A visit to Villa Grimaldi, a complex used for interrogations and executions during the Pinochet regime, provided ample grist for Espada’s work, but he proceeded only after calling Stern to discuss the emotions of visiting and writing about such a place.

“I’m very happy to have the opportunity to do this with Professor Stern, who has been a political and ethical guide for me through my adulthood,” says Espada. “His lessons have stayed with me long after I left Madison. In a way, he’s doing this for me, but I feel that I owe him. This is a way of saying thank you to him for the difference he’s made in my life.”