Shut up, Child.

The poem that I found interesting by Javier Zamora is titled “How I Learned to Walk”.
The poem begins with the Spanish word “cállate” which means shut up or be quiet. This sets the tone and establishes that the poem will be provocative for the speaker. At first, I thought the poem might be from the perspective of a dog because of the line, “I piss in the corner,” (line 4). However, the speaker then says he would, “fling rocks / at bats hanging midway up almond trees,” (lines 6-7). So, the speaker must be a young child because hitting animals with rocks and doing impulsive things is something I associate with childhood, especially boyhood. With context, I know this poem’s speaker must be the child version of the poet. I believe there is a tone shift within the poem. It begins with a child remembering their father and the childhood they had. However, it transitions into an adult speaker wondering who their father was and what he was like. The speaker says, “When I clutch my pillows, I think of him. If he sleeps / facedown like I do,” (line 13). This line struck me because clutching something in your sleep means you are stressed, scared, or angry. It is not a positive action. Therefore, the speaker must feel distressed over the questions he has about his dad. He wants to know who he was and in a way, he wants to know more about himself. It must be frustrating for the speaker to have certain traits and wonder if they are his alone or something that was passed to him by his family.

My question: You use “cállate” twice within the poem, but the second usage seemed out of place. What was the intention behind using this word? Was it meant to be an internal thought of the speaker or a way to break the 4th-wall and reach the reader beyond the poem?

By: Tierney Bowden

The Insight of Another

When reading in one’s head, one forms a tone and voice based off their initial viewing and understanding of a poem, and while there is nothing wrong with that as we all take part in doing so, hearing someone else read it aloud—especially the poet—can influence the meaning one takes from the poem as well as adds further depth towards understanding it.  

Javier Zamora’s “Second Attempt Crossing” discusses the stress and fears of crossing the literal border between countries. The overall tone is solemn and nostalgic as the speaker reminisces on how this Chino man saved him from being detained and caught at the border, essentially taking the bullet for him when he was a child. This can be seen as the speaker goes through every little detail, from the “acacias, whiptails, and coyotes” to the “M, the S, the 13” tattooed on Chino’s chest. The wavering back and forth between the beginnings of each line also communicates this, representing the wistfulness of the speaker as he moves between the times of running across the border, to living in San Francisco, to no longer hearing back from Chino.

However, when listening to the reader, the sentimental tone deepens. The pausing in his voice almost make it seem as though he is attempting to recollect the old memories, as if they are painful to recall or perhaps too distant from him now that he cannot remember it fluently and clearly. The dips in his voice at the ends of lines add a soft quality to the poem, presenting sadness, regret, or even gratitude for what Chino had done for him. Not to mention, his accent when speaking the spanish parts of the poem (such as when he says Chino’s name or the quote on line 14) serve to remind the listener of his heritage, of the reason that this poem was written and why the events occurred as they did. 

Hearing Zamora read his poem adds a layer of personal relation to it, as we gain insight as to how he feels via the fluctuations in his voice; it deepens our understanding and reminds us of the reason why he wrote the poem itself.

Caitlyn Klemm

Becoming Your Own Fear

Arlyne Gonzalez
Natalie Diaz’s gloomy poem “My Brother at 3 AM” utilizes gruesome imagery and diction with dark undertones that signal a return to the body when the brother is slowly parting from his body and jumps into a new one, becoming what he most feared; the devil. The brother faced social identity when he abandoned his natural identity and transformed into a monster that left his mother in disbelief and just repeating, “O God, O God” (line 25). As it will in each of the following stanzas, the second line of the first stanza is the first line of the second stanza and the fourth line of the first stanza becomes the third. In this portion of the poem, the speaker is reiterating what she has described in the first stanza but with more detail. She incorporates a few pieces of information that provide the reader with a clearer image of the situation and setting. When the mom is unlocking the door, it is “3 a.m.” and she is wearing her “nightgown” (line 6). This adds an element of darkness to the poem. The brother’s desperate state is not on a sunny day but in the middle of the night. Although the reader is uncertain what exactly is happening, and whether someone is trying to kill the brother, one can assume it is nothing good. One difference between this stanza and the previous is how the brother’s words are conveyed. In the first stanza, there is that clear element of despair but in the second stanza, he is calmer. As if this is something that he experiences all the time and he is just reminding his mother. The same scene from the previous stanza is continuing as the fourth line becomes the third, and the second line becomes the first. It appears that the mother and perhaps the speaker, are the only ones that are awoken by the brother. The father is asleep and hears nothing about what is going on. In this section, the mother can question her son, asking, “What’s going on?” (line 10) and “Who wants to kill you?” (line 10). These words are not spoken in fear, as if she believes there is someone outside who wants to hurt her son. Instead, it is as if she is just going along with the idea to see where it will lead. Perhaps, the reader might think, this has happened before. In the last line of this stanza, the brother reveals that is it the “devil” (line 12) that wishes to kill him and that the brother can see him, “over there” (line 12).

At this point in the poem, the reader realizes that what the brother is seeing is probably not real and that he may be hallucinating. This assumption heightened when the mom asks, “What are you on” (line 13)? Now it becomes clear that this entire situation revolves around drug use. The brother is a drug addict whose addiction has brought him out in the middle of the night at 3 a.m. and caused him to believe he is in physical danger. This stanza offers some more details about the setting and the type of night it is. The night itself is unusual and somewhat sickly seeming. It was not “black or blue” (line 14) but colored a “dying green” (line 14). The brother then continues to point away from him to the devil he sees at the “corner house” (line 16). Once more the lines are repeated. The speaker describes the “Stars” (line 18) as having “closed their eyes,” (line 18) they have put out their pinpoints of light and “sheathed their knives” (line 18). These spots of brightness have vanished leaving the sky that sickening green. The brother is still pointing across to the corner house and the light from the house illuminates his face so that the mother and speaker can see the “sores” (line 20) on his lips. These sores were most likely caused by the consistent use of meth. The mother continues to look at her son. Her eyes are focused, and stuck, on the sores on “his lips” (line 20). She does not look away. The son, on the other hand, is seeing the devil coming closer. He is panicked again. He says, “O God, I can see the tail…O God, look” (line 19). The devil is coming out from behind the corner house and moving closer to him. It is bearing down, ready to consume him.

In the final stanza, the brother has become the devil he feared. He has become death and sin, and the essence of all the bad decisions he has made. The brother continues to speak in this section, he sees the tail and says to his mother, “Look at the goddamned tail” (line 22) he is weeping, unable to control himself. The poem ends with the mother finally seeing the devil, but not as her son did. The son has become the creature that was focused on killing him. He is “a hellish vision” (line 24). He is, the speaker believes, beyond reach and just like Lucifer, he is the fallen angel with no hope of return.