This week, in addition to Akhmatova's Requiem and Eliot's The Waste Land, you're reading a couple of shorter poems that I couldn't resist including:
Espada, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”
Cisneros, “Never Marry a Mexican.”
Shihab Nye, “My Father and the Figtree.”
Each of these poems deals with some of the troubles we encounter in contemporary life. Each of the poets is a major name. Espada's poem advocates activism - response to sociopolitical friction. This poem treats a grave issue, the politics of naming, lightheartedly, and I love it for that.
Cisneros' poem offers a more serious view of that same friction. For an astute interpretation, see http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/09/11/204816.php. For more information about Cisneros, see http://www.enotes.com/feminism-literature/cisneros-sandra.
Shihab Nye's poem offers another look at a similar conflict. Here, however, the friction is not external but internal as the narrator's father wrestles with his connection to a context foreign to his family. For more information about Shihab Nye and for audio of the poet reading her poems, see http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/174.