Along with Pablo Neruda, César Vallejo, and García Lorca, Nicolás Guillén, poet laureate of revolutionary Cuba, represents the very best in Hispanic poetry and is at the same time the undisputed leader of an important trend in contemporary Latin American letters. Guillén is also an open stylist whose manner does not simply anticipate a coterie audience. Since his first widely acclaimed Motivos del Son (1930), Guillén, a mulatto, has been regarded as the major exponent of Black poetry in the Spanish-speaking world. But his thematic scope is wide, and although primarily known as a poet of folk rhythms, Black and popular themes, he is also recognized for his humor, for his artistic refinement, for his political and revolutionary verse... Robert Márquez