Paul Celan was born in Czernovitz, in Romania, in 1920. Until 1918, this region of Romania had formed part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, a polyglot amalgam of nations stretching from Austria in the west to the Balkans in the south-east. Though each region spoke its own language, and many Jewish com

Contemplative, Depressive, Dissonant, Dramatic, Expansive, Formless, Political, Postmodern poetry

Sherman J. Alexie, Jr. was born in October 1966. A Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, he grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA, about 50 miles northwest of Spokane. Born hydrocephalic (water on the brain), Alexie underwent brain operation at the age of six. He survived the surgery,

Angry, Dark, Death, Deconstructive, Dreamy, In-your-face, Lyrical, Mythic, Native american fiction, Native american poetry, Pioneering, Playful, Political, Post-colonialism, Rhythmic, Rough, Spiritual, Tragic, Tribal

In contrast to the political poetry that epitomized so much of the 1970s, Martin Espada's work kicks aside the pulpit and abandons the megaphone. Espada calls his readers to action in a more indirect fashion -- he envisions a free world without idealizing and describes social horrors without repriman

Political, Power, Sincere, Subtle, Tense

Viewing the human condition as a "confused impurity," Pablo Neruda wrote what he called "impure poetry." His childhood in remote Temuco, Chile, was spent voraciously reading Spanish and French literature. The boy "hunted poems" in the mountains and forests nearby, and published several pieces in Te

Dreamy, Ecstatic, Erotic, Intimate, Lush, Political, Rebel, Romantic poetry, Saturated, Surrealist poetry