I'm not going to lie, I was very much excited to be reading something that had a connection to the Hispanic world. Finally, something that hits more closely to home (disclaimer: I'm not Mexican-American).
These poems were very rough around the edges. The first poem, "Broken Spanish," literally starts like this: "I will f*** you in broken Spanish" These poems are raunchy and unapologetic. Needless to say, I enjoyed this reading.
My favorite of the three poems is "Thirst" by Adelina Anthony. The narrator is clearly talking about someone else, as she refers to the star of the poem as "You." There is focus on horrifying instances of incestuous rape in this mystery woman's life. This mystery woman goes on to marry a deceitful man, in order to escape her abusive past. After being abandoned, she is left impregnated and alone. Instead of aborting her child, this woman instead chooses to raise it. It took me a few readings to understand who this mystery woman was: Adelina's mother. I don't know how obvious this was to others, but I did not grasp this initially.
I think what I enjoyed most about these poems is the realness of the writing. Being a bit familiar with the Spanish language, these poems showed no mercy to censorship. The title alone "Tragic Bitches" was enough in itself. From the beginning, as a reader you could already gather that the writers were not going to apologize to the reader and that its full purpose was not necessarily for enjoyment but for a glimpse into the the hispanic world.
My personal favorite (if you couldn't already guess) is Broken Spanish. Again, the use of the profanity to me was not seen in a derogatory manner but to indulge the reader into hispanic culture. In America the hispanic culture is very romanticized in terms of the language, artistry and body which is exactly what the poem focuses on. Because the culture has been romanticized so much, I feel as though Dino Foxx was letting his frustrations out through the poem and letting everyone know that this "tex-mex"/ broken spanish has become a culture within itself and due to its depreciating value as once beautiful culture, it is now mixed between cultures and not what it used to be. For me personally, I'd rather take real over fake any day, and Broken spanish is a wonderful example of not sugarcoating what it means to be who you are when everyone else thinks otherwise.
I loved these poems. Being Hispanic it is very cheesy of me, but I liked that there were words and phrases of Spanish interwoven in the poems. Often times, Spanish can lose its translation/ meaning (or sometimes have double meanings) so I think that keeping certain phrases in Spanish helped contribute to the poem as a whole. I also LOVED the raunchiness of the poems. With a title like Tragic Bitches, I should have expected some vulgarity and when I first started to read the poems, I'm pretty sure I giggled like a little schoolgirl and had to re-compose myself. However, when I re-read the poems from an analytical view point, going back to what I already said, having Spanish words in the poems tied them together very well. Personally, I liked Childhood Dreams the most of the three. I enjoyed the various reasoning behind each explanation of how the author was trying to portray himself. As well as how he didn't hold back in his explanations. It showed exactly how fervent one can be in their convictions.
I'm just gonna say I agree with Cherokee about which one was my favorite, and it's literally like the same exact reason as well. The thing I liked so much about "Broken Spanish" was its intensity. Like Cherokee stated, the message about being oneself and being true to your own culture was very powerful and very amazingly written. I think the vulgarity adds to the emotional impact the reader gets from the piece of poetry, because if that wasn't there, the tone the author was trying to portray might not have been as effective.
I also really loved "Thirst" as well. The theme of death of life was prevalent throughout the poem, and it was masterfully stated with symbols like the "Crimson flower" and such. Also her "thirst" that was never quenched by her mother was a nice metaphor for her state of being, however for some reason I felt it was playing on a "not liking myself" tone.
"I want to fight against the real issues" "I wanna be so busy fighting for the right to live/that I wont have time to fight for the right to marry"
-Those lines really caught my attention. That this writer gets the idea of 'first world problems'. True, we all deserve equality to love, but sometimes I feel like that can take a back burner when my cousin comes back from Africa to tell me about her encounters with child birthing, starvation, and children soldiers. Those are haunting stories, just as much as these poems are.
These poems were as beautiful as they were rough, cold, and heartbreaking. It went beyond melancholy, each having its own superbly elegant violence twisting between the lines, making the reader step back and go 'woah'. I actually agree with what Olivia said today in class, her comment about us being rather memorized.
What was really beautiful, to me, about each poem was their creation of a cultural space. They created a community, an identity for people to identify with. it created outsiders while inviting participants. And where I felt sometimes I could reach out my hand and say, 'See, I am here, too! With you!', most of those lines left me standing out in the cold, lost, confused, and confronted. I had to reread them all several times just to get my head around the messages, let alone look deeper into them.
Those are the pieces I love most. The ones that shake you and leave you questioning where it is you actually stand.
I'm not going to lie, I was very much excited to be reading something that had a connection to the Hispanic world. Finally, something that hits more closely to home (disclaimer: I'm not Mexican-American).
ReplyDeleteThese poems were very rough around the edges. The first poem, "Broken Spanish," literally starts like this:
"I will f*** you in broken Spanish"
These poems are raunchy and unapologetic. Needless to say, I enjoyed this reading.
My favorite of the three poems is "Thirst" by Adelina Anthony. The narrator is clearly talking about someone else, as she refers to the star of the poem as "You." There is focus on horrifying instances of incestuous rape in this mystery woman's life. This mystery woman goes on to marry a deceitful man, in order to escape her abusive past. After being abandoned, she is left impregnated and alone. Instead of aborting her child, this woman instead chooses to raise it. It took me a few readings to understand who this mystery woman was: Adelina's mother. I don't know how obvious this was to others, but I did not grasp this initially.
I think what I enjoyed most about these poems is the realness of the writing. Being a bit familiar with the Spanish language, these poems showed no mercy to censorship. The title alone "Tragic Bitches" was enough in itself. From the beginning, as a reader you could already gather that the writers were not going to apologize to the reader and that its full purpose was not necessarily for enjoyment but for a glimpse into the the hispanic world.
ReplyDeleteMy personal favorite (if you couldn't already guess) is Broken Spanish. Again, the use of the profanity to me was not seen in a derogatory manner but to indulge the reader into hispanic culture. In America the hispanic culture is very romanticized in terms of the language, artistry and body which is exactly what the poem focuses on. Because the culture has been romanticized so much, I feel as though Dino Foxx was letting his frustrations out through the poem and letting everyone know that this "tex-mex"/ broken spanish has become a culture within itself and due to its depreciating value as once beautiful culture, it is now mixed between cultures and not what it used to be. For me personally, I'd rather take real over fake any day, and Broken spanish is a wonderful example of not sugarcoating what it means to be who you are when everyone else thinks otherwise.
I loved these poems. Being Hispanic it is very cheesy of me, but I liked that there were words and phrases of Spanish interwoven in the poems. Often times, Spanish can lose its translation/ meaning (or sometimes have double meanings) so I think that keeping certain phrases in Spanish helped contribute to the poem as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI also LOVED the raunchiness of the poems. With a title like Tragic Bitches, I should have expected some vulgarity and when I first started to read the poems, I'm pretty sure I giggled like a little schoolgirl and had to re-compose myself. However, when I re-read the poems from an analytical view point, going back to what I already said, having Spanish words in the poems tied them together very well.
Personally, I liked Childhood Dreams the most of the three. I enjoyed the various reasoning behind each explanation of how the author was trying to portray himself. As well as how he didn't hold back in his explanations. It showed exactly how fervent one can be in their convictions.
I'm just gonna say I agree with Cherokee about which one was my favorite, and it's literally like the same exact reason as well. The thing I liked so much about "Broken Spanish" was its intensity. Like Cherokee stated, the message about being oneself and being true to your own culture was very powerful and very amazingly written. I think the vulgarity adds to the emotional impact the reader gets from the piece of poetry, because if that wasn't there, the tone the author was trying to portray might not have been as effective.
ReplyDeleteI also really loved "Thirst" as well. The theme of death of life was prevalent throughout the poem, and it was masterfully stated with symbols like the "Crimson flower" and such. Also her "thirst" that was never quenched by her mother was a nice metaphor for her state of being, however for some reason I felt it was playing on a "not liking myself" tone.
"I want to fight against the real issues"
ReplyDelete"I wanna be so busy fighting for the right to live/that I wont have time to fight for the right to marry"
-Those lines really caught my attention. That this writer gets the idea of 'first world problems'. True, we all deserve equality to love, but sometimes I feel like that can take a back burner when my cousin comes back from Africa to tell me about her encounters with child birthing, starvation, and children soldiers. Those are haunting stories, just as much as these poems are.
These poems were as beautiful as they were rough, cold, and heartbreaking. It went beyond melancholy, each having its own superbly elegant violence twisting between the lines, making the reader step back and go 'woah'. I actually agree with what Olivia said today in class, her comment about us being rather memorized.
What was really beautiful, to me, about each poem was their creation of a cultural space. They created a community, an identity for people to identify with. it created outsiders while inviting participants. And where I felt sometimes I could reach out my hand and say, 'See, I am here, too! With you!', most of those lines left me standing out in the cold, lost, confused, and confronted. I had to reread them all several times just to get my head around the messages, let alone look deeper into them.
Those are the pieces I love most. The ones that shake you and leave you questioning where it is you actually stand.