Introduction

"Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100" is a poem by the Puerto Rican-American writer Martín Espada. The poem eulogizes the victims of the September 11 terrorist attack on The World Trade Center, specifically the often-overlooked immigrant workers in the service industry. Espada's writing revolves around the challenges immigrants face, particularly those in the working class. His father, a Puerto Rican immigrant and civil rights activist, has been cited as his biggest influence.

Poem Summary

"Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100" opens with an epigraph dedicated to hotel and restaurant employees of the labor union Local 100. While working in the Windows on the World restaurant of The World Trade Center, these forty-three employees all lost their lives in the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The word "Alabanza," which is Spanish for "praise," is repeated throughout the poem, giving tribute to the victims of the tragedy.  

The first stanza is a portrait of a blue-eyed, tattooed Puerto Rican cook with descendants from Fajardo, which was once a pirate harbor centuries ago. The lighthouse that guides the sailors of Fajardo is likened to a glittering candle lit in worship of the sea. In contrast to the cook's rich heritage is his modern-day Pittsburgh Pirates baseball hat and admiration for acclaimed right fielder Roberto Clemente. The stanza then ends with praising the kitchen radio, which the cook always turns on before working the oven. 

The second stanza commends the view of Manhattan from the Windows on the World restaurant on the 107th floor of The World Trade Center's North Tower. It is compared to the great, fictional empire of Atlantis, viewed through the glass of an aquarium. From such a height, the immigrant workers can discern the city's diverse citizenry, a melting pot of nations from Ecuador to Bangladesh. 

The restaurant kitchen is described in the morning, with its blazing stoves and hands busy building an "altar of cans." Even the clinking of dishes and other kitchenware in the busboy's tub is praised as music.   

The third stanza pays tribute to two employees: The first is the dishwasher working on the morning of September 11, possibly because another dishwasher had called in sick or he needed overtime pay to feed his family back home in the Caribbean. The other employee described is the waitress singing along to the forlorn love song on the kitchen radio. 

In the fourth stanza, the September 11 terrorist attack is compared to a horrific storm, with wild thunder and rumbling shattering the tall windows. Although darkness has descended on the restaurant and the kitchen radio has ceased singing, the stoves still glow, much like the lighthouses in Fajardo—or the cook's fiery soul. 

Even though the cook is dead, he cannot describe God's appearance because God has no human face. The dead are described as beings of smoke, forever wandering among the constellations in the night sky. Here, the poem challenges the religious connotations of the word "Alabanza," which is to raise a praiseworthy thing to God's face. It declares "Alabanza" for the victims, even though God has no face.  

Finally, the last stanza describes two souls, one from Manhattan and the other from Kabul, drifting upwards and mingling together at the beginning of the holy war al-Qaeda declared against the United States. The soul from Kabul speaks in an Afghan language, asking the other to teach him how to dance, as there is no music where he is from. The other soul responds in Spanish, saying, "I will teach you. Music is all we have."