Vivas to Those Who Have Failed – Poems - Softcover

A poet with a remarkable vision.

"[Espada] writes as if we don't have that much time left.

This poet's work breathes life into those who failed--the downtrodden, the forgotten, and the dead--so that their voices may speak to us now....Espada's poems act as a salve for today's violence, just as Whitman's poems dress the wounds of the Civil War.

In his tenderly elegiac, yet fierce collection...Espada's poems continue to define the role of the poet as an emotional historian. Like Whitman, Espada stirs in us an undeniable social consciousness and connectedness.--Richard Blanco

Showcases some of Martín Espada's most powerful writing in years.

Espada at his brilliant best, the poet laureate of our New America, with a voice that breaks heart, gives courage and burns all illusions.--Junot Díaz

In the battle against forgetfulness, in the ongoing war against dumb distraction and voluntary blindness, Martín Espada is our Subcomandante. With an ear sweetened by long listening to voices most often unheard, he writes poems that resonate like bells forged of bronze and blood.--Tim Seibles

Martín Espada is one of the few poets in our time who really matters, because his words matter, and the people and the world he writes about matter. One thinks of Neruda, of Whitman, of Philip Levine as one finds oneself caught up by the magic of Espada's voice.--Paul Mariani

Memorable, vital, heart-stopping poems. Eloquent in his celebration of those whose names and faces are 'rubbed off / by oblivion's thumb like a Roman coin, ' laureate of ballparks and boxing rings, mad love and workers' strikes, moving elegist... Martín Espada is an essentially American poet and true son of Walt Whitman.--Alicia Ostriker

Martín Espada is the author of fourteen collections of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Republic of Poetry and, most recently, Vivas to Those Who Have Failed. His many honors include the Ruth Lilly Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.