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We Live by What We See at Night | Introduction

First published in the collection Trumpets from the Islands of Their Eviction in 1987, “We Live by What We See at Night” is an example of Martín Espada’s longing and nostalgic voice as a Puerto Rican American distanced from his family’s homeland. Using a simple tone and many images throughout, the poet imagines what it must have been like for his father as a young man, a new immigrant living in Harlem but dreaming nightly about his home. He contrasts the lush and colorful Puerto Rican landscape against the bleak New York cityscape, then shifts to the present, years later, himself now living in the same city. Although he wasn’t born in Puerto Rico, Espada ends the poem expressing a sense of comfort in having “inherited” his father’s nightly visions of the tropical island, memory as deeply rooted, perhaps, as race and culture. As the title might suggest, it is these dreams that sustain people and help them survive, looking forward while understanding their own past.

We Live by What We See at Night Summary

Lines 1–2
These first lines of “We Live by What We See at Night” introduce the tropical island of Puerto Rico, though readers are not sure who the poet is speaking too; who the “you” is yet (later in the poem readers learn he is referring to his father). The mountains “flicker in your sleep,” suggesting this person isn’t in Puerto Rico anymore, but rather, dreaming about it.

Lines 3–4
Still referring to the mountains in the first lines, here the poet describes the lush Puerto Rican landscape. Note the combination of sensory details used here: not only does the poet describe the color of the mountains, but he also uses the word “moist,” allowing readers to imagine the scene using touch as well, like the feeling of a moss-covered rock under their hand. By repeating the same color twice in two lines, the poet is perhaps trying to express the overwhelming sight of green covering the entire countryside.

Lines 5–6
The poet, having described the lush green mountains of Puerto Rico in his father’s dream, contrasts this with what his father saw when he woke up in New York or Texas, having been “evicted” from his homeland. Whereas the visions he saw while sleeping were natural and “green,” when he wakes he sees more man-made structures like “rooftops” and “barracks,” perhaps contrasting a more ideal garden-like... » Complete We Live by What We See at Night Summary