El Coro
Subtitle: a chorus of Latino and Latina poetry
By: edited by Martín Espada.
Contributors: Espada, Martín, 1957-
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Amherst, Mass
Language: eng; spa
Number of pages: 166
Subjects: American poetry -- Hispanic American authors.; Hispanic Americans -- Poetry.
Description: El Coro offers proof that Latino/a poetry today is more complex and diverse, more beautiful and powerful, than had been previously acknowledged. Here we find the open expression of anger and grief, self-mocking humor, the music of protest, the quiet assertion of dignity, and the raucous celebration of survival. There are poems about stoop labor and welfare offices and housing projects, but also poems about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Minotaur.

Among the poets are former farm workers and gang members, a practicing physician, an ex-tenant lawyer, two professional chefs, and a Vietnam veteran. One poet was a political prisoner for six years; another staged a famous hunger strike; still another was indicted for her work with Central American refugees. In many ways this collection of poets comprises a chorus. Their song humanizes in the face of dehumanization.
Notes: English and Spanish.