Flowers and Bullets

 “Tattoo the Puerto Rican flag on my shoulder,” this poem begins, evoking history and ethnic pride. Espada goes on to describe how Cuba and Puerto Rico are connected through their revolutionaries, exiles, and writers. Although the speaker of the poem lives in a northern city and worries about “if I close my eyes forever in the cold,” it’s clear through his precise language that he feels passionately connected to these island lands–carrying them and their stories in his mind and heart.