Man-making words : selected poems of Nicolás Guillén / translated, annotated, with an introduction by Robert Márquez and David Arthur McMurray.

Includes "Notes and glossary" (pages 193-213) and "Notes on sources" (page 214).

"Cover design: Raúl Martínez"

"Drawings by Nicolás Guillén"

Exilio | Exile -- Ríos | Rivers -- Bares | Bars -- Ciudades | Cities -- Canción carioca | Carioca Song -- Brazil — Copacabana | Brazil — Copacabana -- La pequeña balada de Plóvdiv | Little ballad of Plovdiv -- En el invierno de París | In the winter in Paris -- Casa de vecindad | Neighborhood house -- Unión Soviética | Soviet Union -- El cosmonauta | The cosmonaut -- Sputnik 57 | Sputnik 57 -- Canciones chinas | Chinese songs -- Wu Sang-Kuei | Wu Sang-Kuei -- Paul Éluard | Paul Éluard -- Mi chiquita | My little woman -- Piedra de horno | Ovenstone -- Ana María | Ana María -- Deportes | Sports -- Pequeña oda a un negro boxeador ubano | Small ode to a Black Cuban boxer -- ¿Qué color? | What color? -- Gobernador | Governor -- Escolares | Schoolwork -- Little Rock | Little Rock -- Mau-Maus | Mau-Maus -- Calor | Heat -- Ancestros | Ancestry -- Un negro canta en Nueva York | A Black man sings in New York City -- Balada de los dos abuelos | Ballad of the two grandfathers -- Un son para niños antillanos | Son for Antillean children -- El apellido | My last name -- Elegía cubana | Cuban elegy -- Elegía a Emmett Till | Elegy for Emmett Till -- Elegía a Jacques Roumain | Elegy for Jacques Roumain -- Elegía Camagüeyana | Elegy for Camagüey -- Elegía a Jesús Menédez | Elegy for Jesús Menédez -- Fusilamiento | Execution -- Palabras en el trópico | Words in the Tropics -- Llegada | Arrival -- Pequeña letanía grotesca en la muerte del senador McCarthy | Short grotesque litany on the death of Sentor McCarthy -- Canción puertorriqueña | Song for Puerto Rico -- Bonsal | Bonsal -- Allá lejos... | Far off... -- Crecen altas las flores | The flowers grow high -- ¿Puedes? | Sell me? -- Cualquíer tiempo pasado fue peor | Whatever time is past was worse -- Tierra en la sierra y el llano | Land in the sierra and the plain -- Guitarra en duelo major | Guitar in mourning major -- Lectura de domingo | Sunday reading -- Canta el sinsonte en el Turquino | Thus sings a mockingbird in el Turquino -- Vine en un barco negrero | I came on a slaveship -- Angela Davis | Angela Davis.

"The relationship of the poems collected here to what was termed earlier the group's need 'to manifest and to structure its unity, its demands and its enthusiasm' is mainly one of guidance, encouragement. Through them a unity is more clearly perceived, demands further concretized, and enthusiasm proclaimed. In this way they can be seen as members of that large family which includes national anthems, hymns, prayers, pledges, union songs, and even some religious or political oratory. While this sort of expression has its deepest roots in what is understood as poetry, it is most often indifferent to traditional academic standards of poetic excellence. That is, one's response to the anthem or the prayer, as well as to these poems, will be largely contingent on his particular relationship to the phenomena they evoke." -- from the introduction.

"The Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén, who was born in the eastern province of Camagüey in 1902, died in 1989." -- from Amazon.com.

Text in English and Spanish.