Lorna Dee Cervantes Flashcards
Beneath the Freeway: What is the subject of this poem?
The speaker details three generations of women in her family - herself, her mother, and her grandmother - all of whom have been abused or abandoned by the men in their lives.
The women learn to be self-sufficient, doing jobs that men would usually do. They live in a house the speaker’s grandmother built after leaving a 25-year abusive relationship.
At the end, the speaker says she has a “gentle man” – but will still never trust anything but what she’s built with her own hands (ie, relationships between women, etc.)
Poem for the Young White Man: What is the sentiment of this poem?
This poem addresses not just the gap of experience between white people and people of color, but also the academy and general experience. Presumably, the young man of the title is also “intelligent and well-read”, but does not understand how race in America works.
The speaker talks about the kinds of racism she has experienced in intellectual environments (including this question!) and how she is reminded each day that there are those hostile to her in America (“that this is not my land/ and this is my land”).
She concludes: “I do not believe in the war between the races, but in this country there is war.” It doesn’t matter what you choose to call the racial tensions in the U.S. – they are still there and harmfully impacting people of color.
Macho: What is the sentiment of this poem?
The speaker describes a lover with intimate physical detail, comparing his “thread and silk” to a former lovers “gristle and flint.”
Although this comparison may seem feminized, the speaker reminds her lover that the real meaning of “Machismo” is “real” – i.e., he is manly because he is real, not because of his physical prowess or masculine posturing.
What state is Lorna Dee Cervantes from?
Californa
What canonical poets were influential on Cervantes?
Shakespeare and the later Romantics (Keats, Shelley and Byron)
Bananas: What is the form of this poem?
Five single-stanza sections of varying length. The last three comprise a letter: “Dear I”
Bananas: Where is Indrek? Where does the speaker send banana bread?
Estonia
Bananas: What historical event is commemorated in Section II of this poem?
The 1928 Banana Massacre, where 80 United Fruit Company workers were murdered when the Colombian government was sent to quell a strike.
Bananas: What is the subject of Section IV of this poem?
The huge uranium spill in Big Mountain, which is on Reservation Land, and the media exploitation of this event.
Bananas: What is the conclusion of this poem?
The poem is not able to easily resolve the issues which it has raised, but suggests that Poetry may be a kind of balm for the soul against oppression and hardship.
Visions of Mexico…: What is the sentiment of this poem?
The speaker explores conflicting feelings of identity while attending a writer’s symposium in Washington. She imagines her ancestral land, Mexico, a culture with which she is familiar but not intimate (I don’t want to pretend I know more and can speak all the names. I can’t.) and compares it with how uncomfortable she is in Washington.
Ultimately, the poet concludes that this discomfort and separations is “gathering feathers for her quills” – it will help inform her writing.
This could also be read as more tension between the experiences of people of color and an academic environment.
The Body as Braille: What is the sentiment of this poem?
This sensuous poem describes the speaker’s feelings upon being touched by her lover. She concludes by saying she “won’t tell him if its omens or ice”, indicating that some of her feelings will remain mysterious/guarded.
Uncle’s First Rabbit: What is described in this poem?
The speaker addresses the toxic masculinity of Hispanic culture through stanzas about her Uncle.
She begins by telling a childhood story about how his father forced him to kill a rabbit, then describes her uncle observing his father abuse his mother and sister.
Next, the legacy of violence is continued in the Uncle’s own life – he is scarred by his service in WWII and becomes a wife beater. By the end of his wife’s life, he wants her to die, and believes he will finally “get out” as he wanted to all those years ago when his father made him kill a rabbit.
