From Francesca Rheannon
| 00:05:50
Producers: Francesca Rheannon

Extended interview from which this piece is taken was broadcast first on 9/9/04 on "Writer's Voice" on WMUA in Amherst, MA and then on the following Sunday, 9/13 on Tertulia! on WFCR in Amherst, MA.
Extended interview from which this piece is taken was broadcast first on 9/9/04 on "Writer's Voice" on WMUA in Amherst, MA and then on the following Sunday, 9/13 on Tertulia! on WFCR in AMherst, MA.
Transcript of Martin Espada’s ‘Alabanza’
Produced by Francesca Rheannon
TRAX: Martin Espada is America's best-known Latino poet. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1957 of Puerto Rican parents, he's the author of seven poetry collections. His latest, Alabanza, published by Norton in 2003, was named an American Library Notable Book of the Year. An earlier collection, Imagine the Angels of Bread, won an American Book Award. He's received numerous honors, including the Robert Creeley award, the Pen Revson Fellowship, and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. His poems have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Harpers, the Nation, and The Best American Poetry.*
I spoke to him on the occasion of the second anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center. He told me that he had wanted to write a poem after the tragedy, but the event was too overwhelming to...
Read the full transcript
Piece Title:
Martin Espada's Alabanza
Piece Length: 5 minutes 50 seconds
Rundown:
00:00 Music intro (00:02)
00:01 Narrator intros piece over music track (01:00)
01:03 Espada talks about the poem (01:00)
01:06 Music track fades
02:02 Espada reads “Alabanza” (03:02)
05:04 Narrator (00:03)
05:07 Espada talks about reaction to poem (00:33)
05:35 music begins fade up
05:41 narrator, tag line (00:05)
05:45 music fades (00:04)
excerpt from "Verde Luz" on the self-published CD, La Guitarra de Puerto Rico, by Lorena Garay, 2003. Excerpt is in two parts and introduces and ends the piece. Times noted above.