City of Coughing and Dead Radiators: Poems

by Martín Espada

Poems deal with the Latin American experience, city life, immigrants, and Latin American politics

Genres: Poetry

89 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Sandra Cisneros says: “Martín Espada is the Pablo Neruda of North American authors.” Espada was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1957. He has published thirteen books in all as a poet, essayist, editor and translator. His eighth collection of poems, The Republic of Poetry, was published by Norton in October, 2006. Of this new collection, Samuel Hazo writes: "Espada unites in these poems the fierce allegiances of Latin American poetry to freedom and glory with the democratic tradition of Whitman, and the result is a poetry of fire and passionate intelligence." His last book, Alabanza: New and Selected Poems, 1982-2002 (Norton, 2003), received the Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement and was named an American Library Association Notable Book of the Year. An earlier collection, Imagine the Angels of Bread (Norton, 1996), won an American Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Other books of poetry include A Mayan Astronomer in Hell’s Kitchen (Norton, 2000), City of Coughing and Dead Radiators (Norton, 1993), and Rebellion is the Circle of a Lover’s Hands (Curbstone, 1990). He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Robert Creeley Award, the Antonia Pantoja Award, an Independent Publisher Book Award, a Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award, the Charity Randall Citation, the Paterson Poetry Prize, the PEN/Revson Fellowship and two NEA Fellowships. He recently received a 2006 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Harper’s, The Nation, and The Best American Poetry. He has also published a collection of essays, Zapata’s Disciple (South End, 1998); edited two anthologies, Poetry Like Bread: Poets of the Political Imagination from Curbstone Press (Curbstone, 1994) and El Coro: A Chorus of Latino and Latina Poetry (University of Massachusetts, 1997); and released an audiobook of poetry on CD, called Now the Dead will Dance the Mambo (Leapfrog, 2004). Much of his poetry arises from his Puerto Rican heritage and his work experiences, ranging from bouncer to tenant lawyer. Espada is a professor in the Department of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he teaches creative writing and the work of Pablo Neruda.

Reviews

[Megan]

Only one or two poems in this collection didn't pack a proper wallop-- the majority of them are Espada doing his beautiful thing to utter perfection. There is a realness to his poetry that I have never encountered in any other poet. After reading the best of them, which are a page long at most, I feel as though I have just come away from watching an entire movie, because every character and piece of the story is so vivid in my mind. If you like poetry that will teach you something about the world; if you like poetry that is dark and funny and mercilessly honest; if you like poetry that feels good on the tongue when you read it over aloud to yourself-- read this. And any other of his work that you can get your hands on, for that matter.

[Donnie]

I read this book in preparation for his reading at Bucks County Community College. Holy Crap he can read. He is so wonderful and so talented.

[Andrea Janov]

Solid collection that balances the personal and universal elements that we walk through the world with everyday.

[Cathleen]

I first came across Martín Espada's poetry via one of his bilingual poems in a class I took regarding teaching English to non-English speakers. It has stuck with me for decades. And so when I found this book (signed!) in a second hand bookstore in Tucson, I gladly snatched it up. These poems are mostly about the experiences of Puerto Rican immigrants to the US (I'm not even sure if immigrant is the best term, given the unusual status of Puerto Ricans in the eyes of the US government), based on Espada's legal work experiences with low-income tenants. The imagery he conjures is what makes his poems so powerful and visceral. Truly one of the all-star poets of our time.

[Karen]

I read this slowly, over the course of the last few weeks, after seeing Espada's name mentioned in a list of favorite poems by young writers of color. I'm not a big poetry reader, and I hadn't read his work before. Dug it, would read again.

[Jeff]

Although a good collection of his earlier poetry, I felt that the later book, Imagine the Angels of Bread, much more expressive, honest, and accessible. I felt much more empathy towards his stories in the later collection.

[Christina M M Rau]

Imagistic and narrative, this collection presents real life without sappy sentiment or preaching. The organization and some of the longer poems didn't work for me, but overall, a fantastic collection.

[Elizabeth]

Decent, not spectacular. Not sure why there's a glossary included; pretty much all the Spanish is clear in context.

[Brendan]

3 1/2

[ben adam]

Great book by a revolutionary author who was still finding his voice with this book. Near the end, the poems started getting formulaic.

[Mark]

Another read through of this excellent poet of politics, and the needs of barrios of all sorts.

[Courtney LeBlanc]

A collection of poems about democracy, freedom, poverty, survival, and hope.

from The Year I was Diagnosed with a Sacrilegious Heart: "At twelve, I quit reciting / the Pledge of Allegiance, / could not salute the flag / in 1969, and I, / undecorated for grades or sports, / was never again anonymous in school. // A girl in homeroom / caught my hand / and pinned a salute / against my chest; / my cafeteria name was Commie, / though I too drank the milk / with presidential portraits on the carton;"

from When Songs Become Water: "when the government party / campaigns chanting through loudspeakers / that this country / will be the common grave of the reds, / there the newsprint of mutiny / is as medicine / on the fingertips, / and the beat of the press printing mutiny / is like the pounding of tortillas in the hands."

[Matt]

I spent an afternoon with him once in 2017 for an interview: https://artsfuse.org/158013/poetry-re...

How odd to find this book on a shelf at a school in New Orleans, odder still to see it autographed for a student in UMass-Boston, my alma mater.

And for some reason I assumed the title was referring to NYC, probably Brooklyn, which is where he's from so that made sense. Plus of course the whole 90's era dirty realism vibe.

Turns out he meant Boston, or more specifically Chelsea, all along.

[Paulina]

This was a new kind of poetry for me. Some poems were heartbreaking, others humorous, and others yet a bit abstract. I loved the poems that described certain day-to-day scenes in various offices and workplaces in NYC. I felt like I was experiencing those moments, the unfairness, the sadness, the anger. I'd love to read more poetry from Martin Espada.

[BookishBoricua]

Espada is a former lawyer, and a poet, turned university professor. His poetry reflects his experiences as a Puerto Rican man born and raised in Brooklyn, NY as well as his time as a tenant lawyer.

His work is bilingual, political and visceral. Loved it.

[Jim]

Read this right after reading "Floaters" (2021). This is much earlier, and not as mature, but still better than most poetry I read. I very much like how Martin Espada ties together the personal, the ordinary, and the political and extraordinary.

[Ingrid]

Incredible economy of language! Espada can sketch an entire life's story in a handful of stanzas.

[J.Istsfor Manity]

An exceptional collection of poems. Espada generates great feeling through the indelible images he captures at just the critical moment. This collection chronicles the broken social compacts in the Americas and the promises and dreams deferred for immigrants in the US.

From the first line, “Columbus hallucinated gold...” (“The Hidalgo’s Hat and a Hawk’s Bell of Gold”) to the last line, “...of the Alamo / in black streaks of fire.” (“The Other Alamo”) you are in for an accounting and a taking down of the worst of hegemonic America.

Espada is a divine imagist with an acute sensitivity. / Paperback, 01/14/21.