Javier Zamora’s “Second Attempt Crossing” from his book “Unaccompanied” reflects on the experience of a young immigrant (Zamora himself) crossing the border to the United States and being saved by a stranger who goes by the name of Chino. Zamora relies on imagery, symbolism, and an appreciative tone to vividly interpret his message to his audience and make it evident who this poem is directly for.
The speaker from the beginning of the poem makes it obvious to his readers that this poem is ‘for Chino’ (Zamora, Title) He makes it clear that Chino holds significance within the poem as well by mentioning his name multiple times throughout the poem in the title, line 15, and line 19. Also, Zamora utilizes imagery to share the setting where the experience took place which is “in the middle of the desert that didn’t look like sand and sand only.” (Zamora, Line 1) What does the setting interpret? Well, describes where the speaker is during that moment which seems that he’s by the US Border. How is it known? After the short description of the setting, “someone yelled, ‘¡La Migra!’” (Zamora, Line 5). “La Migra” is a Spanish term often used to name the US Border Patrol Agents. By mentioning “La Migra” it makes it more evident that the speaker is close to the border and is doing it illegally implying he is an immigrant. Zamora continues to use imagery to vividly describe the experience of the speaker. “In that dried creek where forty of us slept, we turned to each other, and you flew from my side in the dirt.” (Zamora, Line 6-8) This indicates the reader wasn’t alone, but with a group of other people prepared to cross before they were caught, in this group of people, there was a ‘you”. Who was this “you” the speaker brings up? It’s Chino. Zamora continues with, “Black-throated sparrows and dawn hitting the tops of mesquites, against herd of legs” (Zamora, Line 9-11). This conveys that this event takes place at dawn. By vividly describing this whole experience with imagery, Zamora gives readers the indication that this isn’t just any story, it is a memory that hasn’t been forgotten, likely due to trauma.
Crossing the board is a challenge. I haven’t experienced it myself, but I do have relatives that have, and from their stories, they’ve had similar experiences to what this poem illustrates. Most of these experiences take place in the desert and by the border. Like the speaker, most immigrants come in groups of people and ages vary from very young children to elderly people. When it comes to finding and catching these groups, US Border Patrol can be quite brutal, sometimes killing them or leaving them in overcrowded detention centers. The brutality these agents give is stated in the next lines of Zamora’s poem, “You spirited towards me, I jumped on your shoulders, and we ran from the white trucks, then their guns.” (Zamora, Line 12-14). These lines demonstrate that these men are literally running for their lives, this includes the speaker, and from the looks of it, seems like a child or someone who has a bigger disadvantage compared to the rest of the group. Chino chooses to not leave him behind and protect him from these Border Patrol Agents and their guns. The speaker continues by stating, “So I wouldn’t touch their legs that kicked you, you pushed me under your chest, and I’ve never thanked you.” (Zamora, Line 16-18). This is clearly abuse coming from the US Border Patrol Agents.
This type of behavior would not be allowed if a police officer or another type of government official did this to someone from the United States it would be considered “inhumane” and “abusive”. There is a sense of dehumanization happening in the scene between Chino and the Border Patrol because they are physically beating him for being a foreigner. This situation becomes very ironic after the speaker provides little background information about Chino. “Beautiful Chino–the only name I know to call you by— farewell your tattooed chest: the M, the S, the 13. Farwell the phone number you gave me when you went east Virginia, and I went west to San Francisco.” (Zamora, Lines 19-25). What does the tattooed chest symbolize? MS13 stands for Mara Salvatrucha 13 an international criminal gang. This indicates that Chino was acquainted with the Mafia. What’s its significance? It’s ironic how a gang member is willing to save a young boy’s life, while US government officials who are hired to “protect” pulled out their guns, and their intent was to try to hurt the speaker, a young boy. This poem was Zamora’s gesture for thanking Chino. The tone provided demonstrates that the speaker highly appreciates Chino’s help and since then hasn’t forgotten about it. even after he was found by the gang he ran from in San Salvadora according to lines 27 and 28. There is some sorrow within the tone, but at the same time great respect towards Chino as an individual, who though is a criminal through his gang affiliation, is also a hero for saving a young boy. The speaker didn’t differentiate him because of his background which I thought was very affectionate and quite sad because he didn’t get to see Chino in person since that experience. This is my overall interpretation of the poem, “Second Attempt Crossing” by Javier Zamora.
-Claudia Dominguez
Question for Javier Zamora: While reading “Second Attempt Crossing” I noticed a couple literary devices that were present throughout the poem, mostly imagery, but also some symbolism that connected to Chino’s background. This made me come up with the question when integrating figurative language into your poems, do you plan out what literary devices you’re going to use or do they just spontaneously appear as you write and you go with the flow?
Introduction to Poetry 