Inheritance

When one considers what a child inherits from a parent, the things that come to mind most often are either tangible items—money, houses, furniture, and so forth—or certain physical and personality traits—brown eyes, big feet, a hot temper, and so on. In "We Live by What We See at Night," Martín Espada addresses a different kind of inheritance, one more abstract and transcendental than the usual legacy. He has derived from his father the desire and the ability to dream of Puerto Rico, not in the typical sense of daydreaming about a beautiful tropical island but of a mental "transportation" there when he lies down to sleep.

Espada was born in New York, but his father was a native Puerto Rican. Before the poet ever had the opportunity to visit his family's homeland, he learned about its simplistic beauty and lush terrain from...