Who Am I Without My Words

The earlier drafts of the poem “Sometimes the Words Are So Close” by Julia Alverez enhance the final draft of the poem; the edits accentuate the entire poem due to the clear dedication that is shown. From the very title of this poem to the last period, it is about words being at the tip of your tongue, the words being so close yet so far. There is a clear struggle to find the right words in her drafts. It is obvious that she put a lot of thought into what was said in the poem; she was her own biggest critic, always second guessing if the words that she put down conveys the message that she wanted it to. This only enhances the meaning of the poem, the complexity of living the way she writes, she writes to where it is so simple that a child could understand it yet becoming the person she writes about is the hardest thing for her. It is also notable that the first line of the poem is always the same, like she was so sure that this was something that she without a doubt wanted to say; the first lines always say “Sometimes the words are so close I am more who I am when I’m down on paper than anywhere else as if my life were practicing for the real me,” the way that throughout all of her drafts, the first line was the thing that always survived and way never altered just shows that those lines were essential to the conveying of the message of the poem, which is that she is more herself on paper then she is in person no matter how much she yearns to be the person she writes about. Another line that stuck out to me was “Those of you lost and yearning to be free, who hear these words, take heart from me. I once was in as many drafts as you.” This stuck out to me because it also accentuates the message, just in a different way, she was lost and yearning to be free and the only way she, the speaker, could do that was by writing it down; so she is now saying take heart for i was once like you, struggling to find the right words to say and the right person to be. 

-Paris Baker

The Throes of Home

The two McKay’s sonnets that seem thematically linked would be To One Coming North and The Tropics In New York as both provide what seems as an internal monologue that one would have when moving to a new place and the eventual disappointment or even the disillusion that time has upon oneself. The main connection that both would have would be the initial rose tinted view the speaker has of the city, yet as time passes they yearn for what they once had. Here is where both speakers begin to diverge from each other, while To One Coming North narrative has a valley story going, as one starts off on a high note before heading into a somber tone of longing before having his love for the city reignited once again. The volta of the poem makes itself known as it exclaims and professes how the pining of home will be overcome by what spring offers to heal the speaker’s soul with the “miraculous sun turned glad and warm.” Meanwhile in The Tropics In New York, it parallels the initial high note, yet it only begins a downward spiral of misery as the speaker feels as though the city only serves to allure people with sights and sustains them with nothing else besides illusions. The speaker cannot see what the city may offer, as to him all that is in the city is just an illusion, just like the “highest prize at parish fairs.” Distraught by his memories of the pass, the volta, does not offer a sense of conclusion or resolution to the speaker, rather just an affirmation of his solitude that he feels trapped in the city full of ripe fruit and the bounty of said fruit. In the end, the two poems serve to showcase how one’s mental fortitude can be strengthen and reinforced by the memories of home, or those same memories may be the downfall of man, not allowing him to look into the future and strive for more – just to quit.
Isaac Ruiz

The Criminal as the Hero

  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?

The Exploitation of Us

Usually, we hear from the victorious sides of stories or the colonizers’ side of the story. In “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation” by Natalie Diaz she tells her story of how being oppressed in modern and past society is a recurring theme. Not only for her minorities that look anything but white, but women as well. Diaz uses imagery and symbolism to showcase how marginalized people have to steer away and become their own identity away from the colonizers and the oppressors of society. 

In the poem, Diaz shows us the image of how Native Americans are usually characterized. “Typical Indian. Sure he had wings, jailbird that he was. He flies around in stolen cars. Wherever he stops, kids grow like gourds from women’s bellies.” Diaz is using the imagery of seeing someone who is Indian breaking into cars and making women pregnant left and right. When this isn’t true it is a stereotype that Indians are usually put into a box. But the vivid images of “he had wings” symbolize that he was a free spirit and was not the “true” image of how an angel looked but how others perceived them. In a sense, he can’t truly live freely outside without being judged negatively. This goes back to Diaz and how she feels she is being perceived as well as someone who is a criminal or does things that aren’t pure or virtuous. It shows how even nowadays it’s very hard to fit in somewhere without being judged by how you look or by your roots. Another way this line can be perceived is by how women are viewed as only being the bearer of children. There isn’t any other significant line that talks about women or the presence of them and this line of how they are grown to just have children inside them is disturbing. The aspect is that they are being used to harbor children for the pleasure of the men and are viewed as little to nothing by men in society. This means that there will be a negative connotation that follows you, wherever you may go whether you are Native American, a minority, or a woman in modern-day society. 

Another pair of lines that Diaz uses to show how her social identity has been tainted is “Remember what happened last time some white god came floating across the ocean?”, I believe these show the colonization aspect of her people being oppressed including herself. The words “white god” symbolize the colonizers that had come from Europe and had stolen their land, people, and beliefs from them. By using the pretense of white god, it speaks volumes on how white people have treated her people and how they have suffered because of it. Her body was seen as a use of exploration for her people. This is common in social identities that have been colonized in the past, how the colonizers are always greedy for more, for more riches. An example would be in the Philippines where they were colonized by the Spaniards, forced to do free labor, and forced to follow their customs of Christianity. Even though that wasn’t who they were, the act of doing these extortions on the people now has their language Tagalog where some words are very close to Spanish. The history of these acts is told that it was for the greater good and for the people to learn new things, yet their story is different. Just like in this poem by Diaz the colonizers had reigned on their land and took their identity away and slowly piece by piece they are combating that and getting their roots back. Yet, they shouldn’t steer away and perceive a false god who has taken so much from them and condemned them for who they are. This is a true poem of Diaz to tell her people to look at the true becoming of their heritage and try to preserve what they have and not pay attention to what the outside forces may say about them.

Diaz does a remarkable job in her poem to show how she couldn’t be her true self for a long time even before she was alive. With all the pretenses of the world being against her and hushing her to listen to the people who oppressed her people, she stands strong and says her true beliefs on how she is one of many who are mistreated. She uses symbolism and avid imagery to show her audience that there may not be this angel from God that will come save them but that they will write their own story showing how they are capable of rewriting stereotypes that are written against them. 

Kelly Flores

Justice Waiting to be Served

Natalie Diaz’s work, “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation,” illustrates the harsh treatment and injustices that Native Americans faced during their forced assimilation into white culture. With the use of irony, symbolism, and a sarcastic, yet serious tone evoking a range of different intensive emotions, the speaker is able to share her/his perspective of the social and racial situations Native Americans have and had to go through, spreading the word to others who may not even know of these issues, finally allowing those long-hushed social identities to be heard.

Diaz’s poem is an abecedarian poem. It consists of 26 lines and starts with a word beginning with the word ‘Angel’ and ending with the last line beginning with the word ‘Zion’ just like the ABC’s. She used this poem structure as a crafty way to specify the social injustices Native Americans experience. How though? Along with the poem’s structure, she includes irony and symbolism regarding ‘angels’ (Diaz, Line 1) “whites’ (Diaz, Line 20) and ‘death’ (Diaz, Line 4). She sarcastically states that “everyone knows angels are white”. Though this is quite a very strong generalization, her point was to demonstrate how ironic it was that the white, Christian people considered themselves as “saviors” and “civilized” while they forced their Catholic and Christian beliefs upon the Native Americans in a very inhumane, grotesque way, killing many. That completely takes away the idea of hope, faith, and salvation, what resulted is genocide and death. This is how angels connect back to death in Diaz’s poem. The speaker mentioned, “Angels don’t come to the reservation. Bats, maybe, or owls, boxy mottled things. Coyotes, too. They all mean the same thing—death.” (Diaz, Line 1-3)

In Catholicism (from personal knowledge being in the religion myself), angels are perceived as “guardians” and “protectors from evils”. The natives were forced to believe that their saviors were the white men. They were forced to believe that they were the savages whereas those who were white and Christian were civilized and there to save them. But then, where were those “angels” when thousands of indigenous people were being killed, raped, assaulted, and oppressed? Again, angels are seen as these helpful spiritual beings, but instead of getting help, Native Americans got tortured, suffering and their land stolen. With that combination of irony and symbolism regarding “angels”, “death” and “white men” the speaker managed to demonstrate the oppression Native Americans had to endure. This is something that is still being fought to this day. With a cautionary tone, the speaker ends the poem with, “You better hope you never see angels on the rez. If you do, they’ll be marching you off to Zion or Oklahoma, or some other hell they’ve mapped out for us.” (Diaz, Line 32-35) This imposes the fact that the social issues Native Americans went through centuries ago are issues that are still currently happening. The speaker is referring to a “You” from the looks of it, she/he is speaking to those who are in the reservations, this is what she means with, “If you do, they’ll be marching you off to Zion or Oklahoma, or some other hell they’ve mapped out for us.” I believe that the first-person-point of view makes it easier for Diaz to reach out to a certain audience. The personal narrative provides a deeper understanding of what the speaker’s thoughts or feelings were about the issues being touched upon. From the tone of voice and feelings given by the speaker, I thought the main audience were those silenced Native Americans. In some way, the speaker is trying to be persuasive. By reaching out in a first-person point of view and mentioning “us”, there’s a sense of inclusion. When I read the last line of the poem, I felt like the message was, “Hey you’re not alone, keep your head up!” I’m sure this is the type of message would be considered motivational or positive to the indiginious people who have suffered greatly while living in these reservations.

Overall, with the publication of this poem, Natalie Diaz surely managed to speak for perhaps hundreds or thousands of Native Americans, who are currently in these reservations by frustratingly expressing her opinions and thoughts on the whole context of the Indigenous constantly going through cultural, social, and racial brutalities and unfairness. This is how the poem accommodates social identities that have been marginalized or silenced.

The Lies of Roses

H.D’s “Sea Rose” more effectively challenges the symbolism and image that roses have built up over time by subservting what the readers expect when seeing the word rose, when compared to Adrianna Puente’s “The Rose and The Poppy.” When one begins to analyse a poem, the first thing that the reader notices would be the title, and in said title one sees the word rose; due to the constant use of roses in human culture, one immediately pictures a flower full of vitality, color, and allure and also one can think of romance. Now taking this idea and reading the first, there is a stark division between the image of a beautiful rose and a “harsh rose,” this allows for the reader to form the idea that the poem will not be singing praises of the rose, but rather attempt to deconstruct the rose. The “harsh rose” no longer gives the impression of a flower which one would want to receive but rather one which one would attempt to avoid.
This becomes further emphazied by the diction in the next line in which the rose is “marred and with stint of petals.” The manner in which the rose is described, “marred,” showcases that the rose is not the picturesque flower that comes to mind, but rather a rose which is disfigured or of subpar beauty. The flower which should symbolize one’s undying adoration for another, now has become a decrepit version of itself, thus beginning to dismantle what the rose stands for. A person attempting to woo another would not give their beloved a “meagre flower, thin, / sparse of leaf,” as this would seem like an insult rather than a proclamation of love. When one thinks of what makes a rose grand, the first image that appears would be a bouquet of roses, lush in color and leaves, the grand opposite of what is showcased in the poem. The flower which should be full of adoration has now become a twisted version of itself, and insead of inspiring admiration simply compels a look of disgust due to it “[driping] such acrid fragrance” which repels love.
Isaac Ruiz

Thorns within Tradition

Hilda Doolittle’s poem “Sea Rose” functions as a more effective challenge to the traditional symbolism of the rose when compared to Adrianna Puente’s “The Rose and the Poppy”. The speaker quickly confronts the symbolic meaning within the rose, countering its traditional representation of love and beauty by identifying the harsher and “uglier” aspects of the rose “Rose, harsh rose,. Marred and with stint of petals.” (Doolittle, lines 1-2). The speaker chooses to note the flaws and damage the rose has gone through, causing its traditional beauty to be damaged, leaving the rose “Stunted, with small leaf” (Doolittle, line 9). Ultimately ending the poem with the question “Can the spice-rose. drop such acrid fragrance. hardened in a leaf?” (Doolittle, lines 14-16) asking the reader if beauty can still be found within something damaged and imperfect. The traditional symbolism of the rose is challenged with the idea that beauty still exists within imperfection. The image of a perfect healthy rose is not needed to showcase beauty, instead, the damaged rose serves as a stronger symbol of strength and perseverance. 

Puente’s “The Rose and the Poppy” chooses to speak on the symbolism of the poppy rather than confront the pre-existing symbolism of the rose. The speaker reaffirms the traditional symbolism of the rose but rejects it, choosing to identify with the symbolic nature of the poppy. “I am. Not a ravishing ruby red… I am. Wild in fields of green and blues” (Puente, lines 1-2 & 11-12) By connecting with the ideas of individuality presented by the poppy flower, Puente’s shows that one does not need to relate to the traditional ideas of the rose. Rather one can focus on their own character instead of conforming to pre-existing ideas. While Puente does provide great alternatives to the traditional symbols of the rose, she does not challenge the symbol, instead offering comparisons between the two symbols. It’s for this reason that Hilda Doolittle’s work serves as a more effective challenge to the traditional symbolism of the rose, as it actively confronts and modifies the rose’s meaning, rather than simply providing an alternative.

– Eduardo Ojeda Jr

Special Rose

H.D’s (Hilda Doolittle) poem, “Sea Rose” challenges the traditional symbolic meaning of the rose more effectively thanks to the prominent use of imagery. Specifically on the “Sea Rose” itself and it’s surroundings. We know that the typical symbolism that a rose entails is closely related to love and romance, to be strong and beautiful. H.D takes that symbolism and carves it into her own version of strength and beauty. By beginning the poem with “Rose, Harsh Rose” we immediately think of the traditional rose with it’s thorns, perhaps in foresight we will talk about heartbreak. Instead we get the second line, “marred and with stint of petals”. a wrench is thrown into the works, causing us to be confused. To be Marred means to be blemished with injuries, but why would a beautiful, delicate rose be bruised and blemished along side a “stint”, or limited amount, of petals. It sounds like this rose has taken a beating. “Meagre flower, thin,” stands to mean that this rose is indeed fragile, but not in a delicate way, more in a “on its last legs” way. We get hammered to death with the imagery of worldly cruelty with the final nail “sparse of leaf,”. This whole stanza envelops you into the idea that there is this rose, but it’s not the usual rose that you’d normal be proud to show off, it’s more an “ugly duckling” rose than the ideal symbolic one in our minds. The second stanza offers the speakers view on said rose, calling it “More precious / than a wet rose”. I took these lines as a declaration of the speaker that they would prefer this beaten up rose to a traditional one. “Single on a stem / you are caught in the drift”, this hints that this beaten rose is one of a kind, that there are no other roses like it, being caught in a drift sounds like the ebbing of tides, relating back to the title of the poem. The third stanza begins with “Stunted, with small leaf,”. To be stunted is to be prevented growth, perhaps this rose is weak instead of traditionally being strong, the leaf indicates low growth as you would expect more leaves than a single small one. The next few lines talk about how the rose is flung around on the sand, the sand that which “…drives in the wind.”, I would take this part of the third stanza as more capitalization that this is no ordinary rose, even where it has grown is not usual to what we imagine a rose to have been grown. I personally would imagine grass or dirt but not sand. The final stanza questions if the “Spice rose” can “drip such acrid fragrance / hardened in a leaf?”. I had to research what a “Spice Rose” was, it turns out to be the exact antithesis of the rose talked about in this poem, an ideal rose, a perfect rose, one where our expectations of a rose meets reality. The question asks whether a perfect rose can do the same as this “Sea Rose” can. It makes its mark in wanting to change the expectation of what an ideal rose should be, perhaps this can be translated to people. With how social and gender norms are, this poem would be a great critique on how we could change what we idealize within our society, why do we have to be a certain way. I feel like this poem would be closer to reflect feminism and the want to change how an ideal woman should be, instead of having this ideal image of what a rose should be H.D shows us her ideal rose and how much more beautiful it is rather than what is generally accepted as a beautiful rose.

Roman Arroyo

The ‘Imperfect’ Rose

H.D.’s poem, “Sea Rose” and Arianna Puente’s “The Rose and the Poppy” both have their unique ways of demonstrating the traditional symbol of the rose, by including certain figurative language like imagery and descriptive adjectives, however from comparing and contrasting both. I believe H. D’s poem is more effective in challenging the traditional symbol of the rose than Puente’s.

Both poems mention a ‘rose’ in their titles, “The Rose and The Poppy” and “Sea Rose”, they even begin their poems by referring to a ‘rose’ as well. What is different though is the way the rose is mentioned throughout both poems. Traditionally, a red rose symbolizes love, passion, and romance. H.D. states it as a “Rose, harsh rose, marred and with a stint of petals, meager flower, thin, sparse of leaf,” (H.D., Line 1-4). From the detailed adjectives and speck of imagery given like, “thin”, “marred and a stint of petals”, “harsh rose”, and “sparse of the leaf”, I conveyed that the rose wasn’t the “traditional” rose, specifically because of its physical appearance. It’s not healthy, though no pigmentation or color is disclosed, it can be assured that it’s a wilting rose being vividly described. How does this prove H.D.’s poem is more effective though? Well, H.D. continues by stating, “more precious than a wet rose single on a stem—” (H.D., Line 5 – 7) It seems as though the speaker has some admiration towards this dying rose. Even if it’s wilted it’s still beautiful, more beautiful than one that is well and alive.

This statement is more evident when the speaker quotes, “Can the spice-rose drip such acrid fragrance hardened in a leaf?” (H.D. Lines 14-16). From reading this I got a defensive tone from the speaker. It sounds like he/she is defending the rose as if he/she is stating, “So what if it’s dying? At least its fragrance is stronger than a healthy rose.” What about the fragrance though? Thinking outside of the box, from my knowledge, dry roses are more likely to hold a stronger fragrance than roses that are lively. Rose petals are dried purposely and blended into powder because of their color and fragrance. How is quick input relevant to H. D’s poem though? Well, it further proves that even beyond a rose’s death, it can provide many uses and benefits, it’s quite valuable. This is where the speaker challenges the traditional symbol of the rose. It’s not a soft-petaled, bright, healthy rose, however, it still holds value, value that a lively rose may not be able to give or provide.

   On the other hand, Puente, though she mentions a ‘rose’ as well, does not have it as a main symbol or main vehicle in her poem unlike H.D. This is where her lack of effectiveness lies. She first starts by stating, “I am not a ravishing ruby red, or a semblance of purity white.” (Puente, Line 1-3). She includes imagery and alliteration, mentioning the rose’s colors, “ravishing ruby red” and “semblance of purity white.”. It seems she does start off strongly referring to a traditional rose by providing certain terms connected to it, like a “token of comfort” (Puente, Line 5), “romance” (Puente, Line 6), and “Valentine’s Day” (Puente, Line 19) however, her poem takes a twist when she states, “I am wild in the fields of green and blues. Electric orange- like tangerines in an orchard of trees, my skin’s perfume meshed in the summer breeze.” (Puente, Lines 12-16). From the depictive adjectives, “fields of green and blues”, “Electric orange”, and “Tangerines”, it makes it evident that the speaker is not being expressive about a rose after all, she’s regarding a California poppy flower. This diminishes the effectiveness of challenging the traditional symbol of the rose since it demonstrates that’s not the main context in her poem. Puente does not challenge the symbolism of a traditional rose, she goes along with it, the speaker only states that individually she is not a rose, she is more of a poppy. This is why I believe H.D.’s “Sea Rose” was the most effective in challenging the traditional symbol of the rose than Adrianna Puente’s “The Rose and The Poppy”. His poem stays relevant with just a rose, it deflects on the physical appearance of a traditional one, and his poem completely challenges the conventional, idealistic perspective of a traditional rose.

The Budding Outcasts

Adrianna Puente’s “The Rose and The Poppy” does a better job in challenging the traditional symbolism of a rose. The speaker is personified to be the poppy, expressing their individuality in contrast to the rose through apostrophe. However, the comparison between the rose and the poppy becomes an implied metaphor for individuality. The speaker makes the contrast with the rose by mentioning how “I am not a ravishing ruby red… purity white,” but an “electric orange” (Puente 2-3, 13). Color is a prominent image that is galvanized by the orange that bursts from the orange poppy. The poem’s imagery of a colorful world expresses how a flower holds its own uniqueness and is not defined by a single color. The speaker mentions its own state of being an outcast, saying, “most times I am forgotten. Rarely chosen for eager hands on Valentine’s day – but I am my own” (16-19). It is an outcast because its lack of a traditional symbolism makes it incomparable to that of rose. However, it is the poppy not conforming to a traditional symbol but through being a contextual symbolism that it is given its individuality, malleable by both the speaker and audience. Though there is a similarity that exists between the rose and the poppy.

Scent and decay also is a theme in the poem that is compared between the two flowers, “my skin’s perfume meshed… we each wilt into dried petals – scenting rooms with our fragrance. Rotting into umber” (15, 22-24). This bridges into a metaphor for how both flowers are acknowledged as flowers without its symbolisms. The decay is mimicked by how the poem itself decays into smaller stanzas. Though the tone becomes almost melancholic acknowledging that while the rose holds its uniqueness similar to the poppy, both inevitably rot making them not so different as they may appear.

“Sea Rose” by H.D. holds similar ideas by a flower being presented as an outcast. The speaker’s apostrophe to direct their feelings towards the rose reflects more so how the rose itself holds its own identity that combats against its traditional symbolism. The rose is described as being a “harsh rose… stunted… flung on the sand” but with a single leaf that drips an “acrid fragrance” (H.D. 1, 9-10, 15). This rose is in a battered condition, being careless left aside and not holding the traditional symbol of a beautiful red rose in good health. Though it is the contextual symbolism of the rose that reflects how its battered condition gives its own identity outside of tradition. The rose emitting a bitter smell that contrasts against the traditional smell of a rose, paralleling Puente, brings this rose ironically to life through the senses that H.D. uses.

I chose Puente’s “The Rose and the Poppy” over H.D.’s “Sea Rose” because of how Puente evokes emotions by being a different flower than a rose itself. Puente challenges the symbolism by making a comparison that is unlikely to be made, yet utilizes it to bring about how the rose is trapped by its traditional symbolism, whereas the poppy itself is free. Though making the clarification that both are flowers and are natural things bound to die by time holds spiritual connotations that I personally felt connected with. H.D. does a similar good job in evoking these emotions, and that’s primarily through presenting the traditional rose into a battered, destroyed rose that cannot achieve its traditional symbol through its physical appearance. Though I think the comparison Puente uses between the rose and the poppy helps challenge the rose’s traditional symbolism more evocatively.

Phillip Gallo