Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper

The first line tells us from the start that this is a poem of lived experience that aims to communicate directly to its readers or listeners without much embellishment: “At sixteen, I worked after high school hours” (Line 1). The speaker establishes an informal tone, the sense that the poem will say something important. As the past tense conveys that the speaker is now older, it subtly creates an expectation that the poem will go on to comment on the connection between past and present. The following lines, while similarly plain in their language, use line breaks to open up the experience of the job in cinematic style. If “at a printing plant” (Line 2) conjures an image of a generic factory, “that manufactured legal pads” (Line 3) takes the reader through the gates. Espada deliberately chooses the word “manufactured” (Line 3) rather than “made,” to highlight the purpose of the place and hint at its antagonism to the humanity of the workers.

Lines 4-6 zoom in on a more specific and memorable image: “Yellow paper / stacked seven feet high / and leaning.” Espada’s reference to the color of the paper paints a clear and accurate image.