Ryan Loredo
Equinox Staff
Poetry has changed over the centuries but the idea of creative expression through stanzas and rhyme schemes will never die. From the Greek epics of Homer to the sonnets of Shakespeare, poems have expressed stories of personal triumph and loss. Keene State College has shown to be an intriguing collection of poetic authors.
On Tuesday, April 5, KSC hosted poem author Martin Espada and other KSC poets in the Alumni Center in honor of national poetry month, April. Unfortunately, Espada could only read for forty minutes because he needed to catch a flight. The first poem he read was “On San Sebastian Street,” which was about a street in Puerto Rico famous for its music and culture. The reading was described beforehand as Espada being, “very animated.” The second poem he read was inspired by a comrade of Espada’s, Jack Agüeros. The poem itself was about the lies he was forced to deal with given by fate. Espada said, “Blessed be the truth tellers for they can have all the ice cream they want!” The next poem titled “Return 245 Wortman Avenue. East New York,” was about an experience of “bloody doors” he lived through in his childhood.
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The fourth poem on the list was “My Cockroach Lover,” which was about his experiences with the infamous cockroaches of Brooklyn, N.Y. The reading itself was quite comically received by the audience. The fifth poem read was based upon an experience with him and his father. The poem, “The playboy Calendar and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,” was about his father giving him two gifts, a Playboy calendar and the famed book of ancient poetry, the “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.”
Omar Kayyam was born in the year 1048 CE; he was a poet and astronomer. The sixth work was a poem inspired by an event him and his wife endured with his son, Clemente. His son suffered from a disease at the age of six months, which is considered fatal at the young age.
The poem is titled “Clemente Means Merciful” and is based upon the translation of the name of his son. The seventh poem, titled “Mariano Explains Yanqui Colonialism to Judge Collins,” was the shortest poem of the night. He told the audience about a “miss-translation” in the poem which turned the mood of the room from serious to comedic. After the laughter subsided, Espada read his eighth poem, “Sleeping on the Bus.”
The poem was based on an experience of his father’s who became a civil rights worker after being arrested for not going to the back seat of the bus because he was a darker skinned person. According to Espada, his father was arrested and taken to prison for a week. He said his father changed personal viewpoints after the imprisonment.
The ninth poem of the night followed the civil rights setting. The poem, titled, “Litany at the Tomb of Frederick Douglas,” was about the decorations on the grave of abolitionist Frederick Douglas. The setting is based on Espada visiting the grave three days after the election of President Obama. The tenth poem of the night was titled “The Hole in the Bathroom Ceiling” and was based on an actual hole in the ceiling of his bathroom.
His family in the audience was laughing during the reading because of their experience with the hole. The final poem of the night was “Alabanza,” which in Spanish means “Praise.” The poem was written for the praise of the 43 workers of the restaurant in the World Trade Center during the day of the September 11th attacks. After “Alabanza,” Espada commented on the inspiration of his works of poetry, “The inspiration is right there, it’s basically to make the invisible visible, tell stories that haven’t been told, to celebrate unsung heroes, to call attention to injustices, to celebrate the language itself.”
After an intermission, several KSC students and faculty poets came to the podium. The poets poured their hearts and souls out on the floor as poet after poet astounded the audience with their personal works.
The topics for the poems ranged from personal tragedy to overcoming racial issues. KSC Freshman Elhadje Bah said his inspiration for his works comes from, “My environment and most of all, my mother. She has brought me up herself for over ten years and she inspires all my work and supports me.”
Senior Mary Benson said her inspiration for her works stems from other connections. “For artists it’s definitely filled with Anne Sexton and for everyday inspiration it is family life, work life, experiences from childhood, what I see on the street,” she said. The event was overseen by the office of Multiculturalism Affairs and had Michael Antonucci as the Master of Ceremonies for the event. Professor Dottie Morris, chief of the office of multiculturalism affairs, commented on the poetry presented saying, “I think it went well, I really loved the students. I mean I love Martin because I’ve heard his work before.” She also said, “I’m ready to go write something!” Espada is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He has received several awards for his poetry including the Paterson award for Sustained Literary Achievement. He has published seventeen books in poetry to date.
Ryan Loredo can be contacted at rloredo@keeneequinox.com
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