Context for "Jorge the Church Janitor Finally Quits"

This poem by Martin Espada is not meant to be a funny poem but some of the images tend to be amusing. An image that sticks out in the text to be funny is how it says, "I host the fiesta of the bathroom." This shows that he is always there while herds of people flood into the bathroom, but is invisible. Again Martin focuses on the worker that is not noticed as often as others. People ignore him and few even realize he is there. This poem is sad and shows that everyone has feelings not just the people that are talked about the most. Martin wants to make it clear that just because Jorge is a church janitor, he is still important and people should recognize him and be thankful for what he does. Jorge does not like his job because he is ignored. In the end Jorge quits being a janitor because no one cares that he is there; he is invisible to people. It says that no one will even know he quits and they will think the next janitor is Jorge because they never payed attention enough to know the real Jorge.

picture from: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/