Of the Threads that Connect the Stars

“Of the Threads that Connect the Stars” is a narrative poem. It tells the story of three generations of Espada men. They are the main characters, and their relationships to the stars and all they represent fuel the plot. The poem follows a linear path forward, but it skips time to condense the full arc into the relatively short poem.

The poem is written in unrhymed free verse organized into three stanzas of four lines each and a final fourth stanza of two lines. The lines are relatively uniform in length, and sound like natural, musical speech. Despite its lack of rhyme and formal meter, its structure evokes the English sonnet. Three quatrains span three generations, each searching for stars. A concluding couplet offers an amplification and another layer of meaning: “My father saw stars. My son sees stars. The earth rolls beneath / our feet. We lurch ahead, and one day we have walked this far” (Lines 13-14). The play between traditional, personal, and unconventional strengthens the connection to the Whitmanesque while remaining firmly in Espada’s individual