Theme of Martin Espada’s Poems Essay

Martin Espada is a famous poet.  He was born in New York in 195. He has published more than 15 books full of poems. His poems have been published in Spain, Puerto Rico, and Chile. His poems have different themes. Some of them do have the same theme but in different ways of expressing them. Some of his poems are based off of pictures or they are just experiences or moments that he thinks about probably. Three of his poems stand out to have the same theme but expressed in different ways. The three poems Revolutionary Spanish Lesson; The New Bathroom Policy at English High School; and Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877 have the theme that separation is wrong because of the words that he uses in his poems.

            In Revolutionary Spanish Lesson Espada writes about how a guy feels when his name is mispronounced. He writes it from a first-person point of view. He says that when someone mispronounces his name he wants to “hijack a busload of Republican tourists from Wisconsin, force them to chant anti-American slogans in Spanish”. His description is so specific. He shows how there is a separation between the white people and Spanish or any other ethnicity. He shows that there is a border that separates the Spanish and the whites and he is writing this poem to show these whites to try to pronounce names correctly to make this border disappear. It’s like a message for the white people who make no move to pronounce someone’s name correctly.

            In the second poem The New Bathroom Policy at English High School Espada writes about a principal in an English High School using the bathroom while listening to boys talk in Spanish. He doesn’t understand what they are saying except that they are talking about him. He decides to ignore them and relax. This is another example of how there is a border between the Spanish and whites. It’s like the principal doesn’t care about the Spanish kids and he’s like speak your own language and I’ll stick to mine. It’s the principal creating the border by not trying to figure out what they are saying. If there was no border he would at least try to find out what they were talking about which indicates he cares, but that’s not the case.

            In the third poem Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877 Espada writes about a photograph of forty white vigilantes lynching two Mexicans and showed their pride by crowding into the photograph. This is a very clear example of separation. It supports the fat that the whites didn’t care about the Spanish people and were proud to hang them. Except that this photograph was from 1877 which means that this was a long time ago. It’s a message for the people now not to repeat the same thing. It’s so that the separation between Mexicans and whites don’t get so strong that the whites begin to hang the Mexicans. It’s to teach a lesson.

            Overall these three poems represent the theme of separation and how it’s not right. He expresses this message in the same form but in three different ways. He shows it through history, through a first-person point of view, and an example of someone creating it. It’s an attempt to diminish the separation between whites and Mexicans and other ethnicities. It’s so that everyone respects each other and each other’s language. It’s to show everyone separation is wrong.