Yesenia Betancourt Poem for the Young White Man by Lorna Dee Cervantes I found Cervantes’s poem to be an interesting read. I liked the way she used imagery to describe the snipers in the schools. It kind of made me think of a soldier with a rifle, only the snipers are what I assume to be the teachers in the schools. No matter how hard she tries she just cannot escape the racism that she constantly faces, not even in her “land”, the safe haven she created for herself, all because of the color of her skin. She just wants to be able to go through her day without having to be reminded that while it is her land it is also not her land at the same time. It makes me think about how frustrating it had to have been to live everyday with those comments being constantly made towards you. For your children to have to be exposed to that at an early age.
Andrea De Llano Poem for the Young White Man by Lorna Dee Cervantes
Poems like this make me worry about leaving the RGV. You can feel the truth to them, you can almost imagine yourself as Dee Cervantes. As a writer I can empathize with her desire to write about happier things, love and family and anything besides the racism she potently feels drilling into her daily life. But she can't get the "war" out of her mind, she has no choice but to write about it.
Instead of giving us examples of that racism she gives us the metaphor of gunshots, but this works well because we already know enough about the world to realize what those bullets are made of: they're made of words and assumptions and little regard for the woman with darker skin who, as a result, may never feel she is "good enough."
Reading Cervantes’ poem was a really good read. I can see why she claims about wanting to write about other things, happier things, such as love, but I can also understand why she doesn’t, or can’t. We tend to write about things that come easier to us, things that we know, things we’ve lived. Racism is that thing that she’s lived, that is the thing that she knows. I find it quite sad that the things that are easier to write are the saddest of things, but I suppose writing about them is used as an outlet. I also like that she used a different way of trying to say the clichéd “words cut deeper than a knife,” right Mr. De La Cruz? :)
Just to start off, there is an apparent lack of context in the poem. This can either be a good or bad thing depending on what side of the fence you’re on. On the positive side, the lack of context and the scant amount of information given (such as the narrator being a basketball player and spending their time frequently at a bar) leaves a lot of interpretation from the reader. On the negative side of things, this means that the reader does not have a lot to empathize with from what is given by the narrator, which dampens any emotional impact the poem may have had.
Just to note, I don’t think the narrator referred to themselves with any gender pronouns, so they could just as well be a woman. Though, for the sake of simplicity, I’ll be describing the narrator as male.
Moving on to the symbolic significance of the poem, in my opinion, it represents an allegory of dreams, both broken and empty. For whatever reason, the narrator seems to be a regular patron of the bar (this is, of course, if it is in fact a bar, or someplace where beers are sold), and used to be a basketball player in the past. This could mean many things, but to me, given the context of the poem, I interpret this as relating to broken or empty dreams. Maybe his time as a basketball player was short lived, and he is spending his time in bars drinking, breaking the dreams of others who think they can beat him, just as how his dreams were broken. What if the closet with dreams “without a skeleton or skin” not only represents the shirts, and by extension the people, of those he’s beaten, but also his own dreams? Just food for thought.
This piece reminded me a lot of these books I'd read by Ellen Hopkins. The line breaks which form an image really seems to intrigue me. The fact that the image is relevant to the poem itself is even more fun to read. Comparing a new shoes, something materialistic (shiny and new) to and old flame (something that has happened and has been dulled out) really brings up interesting ideas. Although I cannot fully understand if she misses him, or just enjoys the thought of impressing him, I know that the narrator is confident in herself. For some reason, I get this tone of lust from the poem, as high heels are often associated with flamboyancy, and because she wants to know what he would think of her in those shoes. I also enjoyed how she compares the thoughts of him to bubblegum, I perceived the comparison to how irritating it is to get gum stuck underneath your shoe.
This poem was an interesting read. The structure of the poem was something I had never seen before, I decided to look that up and discovered that it's called "concrete poetry". Its just a way where the words are arranged to depict the subject which is comparing how these luxurious heels make her feel the way her old flame used to make her feel. The author uses words like "kinky" "skinny call-girl heels" which makes me think she's referencing something else.
Also, I think this piece was able to show the range and variety that comes with writing poems. It offers a different form and style of poetry.
Ms. Cervantes introduces a contrast unique to the minority experience, specifically the Mexican Americans. She does this through comparing the world of her imagination versus the world of reality. Her inner universe is filled with gentle people speaking kind words, where poets are glorious and art is respected. Reality, however, is very different. Right outside her door, it is violent, brutal and cannot be reasoned away. The pressure introduced through the image of the two worlds in endless disagreement is continued throughout the poem, until it breaks free with her concluding response to the Young White Man’s question. Racism, according to Ms. Cervantes, is not a question of intelligence or belief. Those two ideals are not important to the existence of prejudice. Hate, she tells us, doesn’t need a personal endorsement. It’s doing just fine on its own.
Poem for the White Young Man by Lorna Dee Cervantes
This poem gave me the chills considering that she points out how there violent acts between races yet we don't know about them since they don't happen to us. It is disturbing to know that right outside your front door something bad can happen to you due to your race. She mentions how everything is great and peaceful between the people of her race, but there will always be a person or people of a different race who will try to cause harm or proceed to do a racial act such as the burning crosses. She also mentions that the wounds caused from harm are deeper emotionally than physically knowing that there is hatred toward her. This is an amazing poem which sends a deep and powerful message to a white individual who is naive to the fact that this woman has to live in fear of racial acts. The author makes it a point to say that she does not believe in causing violence between races, but that they will still continue to go on.
I think Cervantes explains in such good detail the war that exists between people over races through this poem. at the end she mentions how she doesn't believe in the war between races, but how she is aware that there is war. The war exsists because people differentiate each other by race, income, and social status. All these things make up a war between races. She gives perfect insight of what happens today, describing how there are snipers in schools aiming at her children. Now, she says her children, but by her last name I believe she is Latino, and a lot of the shootings are made to innocent people that don't belong to the supposed race the lands belong to.
This story gave me major flashbacks because I was raised in a state known for racism, not just towards black but to different races that are not white. I remember getting in trouble for speaking Spanish with my Hispanic peers in class. We would stop talking in Spanish just to prevent a bigger punishment, but I remember thinking, is this not a free country. Why must I stop talking in a language I've been taught just because you don't understand it.
I honestly don't think I would change anything about this poem. It really made me feel and remember how this country is indeed at war.
I'm not good with poems, but this poem was easy for me to understand, so I think. It makes me feel that the valley people should not leave this place (RGV). But I think we should all do what we want to do, so if your dream is out there, then go look for it, and you will find it. I feel that racism is a thing from the past, but some people still live in the past. I believe that the biggest thing holding our race Los Mexicanos de el valle from being successful, is that people down here don't help eachother out, their is a lot of envy and jealousy, and that's what holds our people down. Fuck racism, and fuck all this slave mentality bullshit, we living in a new era, let's all just move on and go with the flow wherever it goes.
Basketball by Sherman Alexie. I enjoyed basketball because the narrator speaks about how his dreams are broken because he's a native American with dreams of being a basketball player. I felt that the story had elements of discrimination. Became he was an Indian, people saw him as a minority and some one who is incompetent of fulfilling his dream. He carries this abuse that he dealt with, but with the metaphor about the horses, it was an indication that he is still the same person, regardless of what people tell him. Now, it was ambiguous for me, the reader, to know if he was male or female, but my interpretation made me feel that he was a male.
I really liked what the author wrote in her poem. In this sense most people can relate to this poem. I know that I can relate because when I play my favourite video game, I am reminded of my old fling. The way she wrote about her ex didn't seem she had anything against that person. Its just the little thing that make us remember the good memories we had with them. She was very expressive with her words. I like her use of imagery. Overall the poem was really nice and easy to comprehend. I also like the fact that the structure of the poem was in a high heel shoe formation.
I personally really enjoyed reading Basketball by Sherman Alexie. He speaks about a lifestyle that has grown very common to him. He mentions that "after a few beers here" that the Indian natives of the reservation grow a sizable confidence to take on such a legend of his stature. He had a move known as the Crazy Horse jump shot. The name "Crazy Horse" is significant in this poem because it speaks about a Native American War leader that ranks amongst the most influential and iconic of the tribal members and is even featured in a U.S Postal Stamp in 1982. The narrator could have possibly been known for such a cluctch and empowering shot. So when he speaks that after a few drinks they want to go one-on-one with a legend like himself, they manage a wager and he always comes out on top. He even pokes fun at "Lester FallsApart" as that his the nickname given to him for lack of athleticism compared to others. They throw some extra shade on him when he's the one standing on of a trash can imitating a basketball hoop basically stating, that's what you're good for either way. When he says, "someone always finishes the night bareback, like it should be" speaks volumes about his confidence and his great talent on what he's been able to do to his fellows natives. Winning has become the norm and he doesn't see it any other possible way. He says he goes home to hang up another shirt in his closet as tokens of graditude for number of wins. Yet when he mentions, "Another Crazy Horse dream without a skeleton or skin" is major is regards to how he feels about what he's doing. Yes he understands that he wins day in and day out but he questions himself, "what for? Why do I do this? What benefit do I receive?" He has nothing to show for his accomplishments and triumphs. Almost as his talents in this reservations are restricted and lack a foundation to fall back on or to stand up for.
Yesenia Betancourt
ReplyDeletePoem for the Young White Man by Lorna Dee Cervantes
I found Cervantes’s poem to be an interesting read. I liked the way she used imagery to describe the snipers in the schools. It kind of made me think of a soldier with a rifle, only the snipers are what I assume to be the teachers in the schools. No matter how hard she tries she just cannot escape the racism that she constantly faces, not even in her “land”, the safe haven she created for herself, all because of the color of her skin. She just wants to be able to go through her day without having to be reminded that while it is her land it is also not her land at the same time. It makes me think about how frustrating it had to have been to live everyday with those comments being constantly made towards you. For your children to have to be exposed to that at an early age.
Andrea De Llano
ReplyDeletePoem for the Young White Man by Lorna Dee Cervantes
Poems like this make me worry about leaving the RGV. You can feel the truth to them, you can almost imagine yourself as Dee Cervantes. As a writer I can empathize with her desire to write about happier things, love and family and anything besides the racism she potently feels drilling into her daily life. But she can't get the "war" out of her mind, she has no choice but to write about it.
Instead of giving us examples of that racism she gives us the metaphor of gunshots, but this works well because we already know enough about the world to realize what those bullets are made of: they're made of words and assumptions and little regard for the woman with darker skin who, as a result, may never feel she is "good enough."
Poems for the Young White Man
ReplyDeleteBy: Dee Cervantes
Reading Cervantes’ poem was a really good read. I can see why she claims about wanting to write about other things, happier things, such as love, but I can also understand why she doesn’t, or can’t. We tend to write about things that come easier to us, things that we know, things we’ve lived. Racism is that thing that she’s lived, that is the thing that she knows. I find it quite sad that the things that are easier to write are the saddest of things, but I suppose writing about them is used as an outlet. I also like that she used a different way of trying to say the clichéd “words cut deeper than a knife,” right Mr. De La Cruz? :)
Andres Sanchez 20229480
ReplyDeleteBasketball by Sherman Alexie
Just to start off, there is an apparent lack of context in the poem. This can either be a good or bad thing depending on what side of the fence you’re on. On the positive side, the lack of context and the scant amount of information given (such as the narrator being a basketball player and spending their time frequently at a bar) leaves a lot of interpretation from the reader. On the negative side of things, this means that the reader does not have a lot to empathize with from what is given by the narrator, which dampens any emotional impact the poem may have had.
Just to note, I don’t think the narrator referred to themselves with any gender pronouns, so they could just as well be a woman. Though, for the sake of simplicity, I’ll be describing the narrator as male.
Moving on to the symbolic significance of the poem, in my opinion, it represents an allegory of dreams, both broken and empty. For whatever reason, the narrator seems to be a regular patron of the bar (this is, of course, if it is in fact a bar, or someplace where beers are sold), and used to be a basketball player in the past. This could mean many things, but to me, given the context of the poem, I interpret this as relating to broken or empty dreams. Maybe his time as a basketball player was short lived, and he is spending his time in bars drinking, breaking the dreams of others who think they can beat him, just as how his dreams were broken. What if the closet with dreams “without a skeleton or skin” not only represents the shirts, and by extension the people, of those he’s beaten, but also his own dreams? Just food for thought.
Damaris Cantu
ReplyDeletenew shoes and an old flame - Gloria Vando
This piece reminded me a lot of these books I'd read by Ellen Hopkins. The line breaks which form an image really seems to intrigue me. The fact that the image is relevant to the poem itself is even more fun to read. Comparing a new shoes, something materialistic (shiny and new) to and old flame (something that has happened and has been dulled out) really brings up interesting ideas. Although I cannot fully understand if she misses him, or just enjoys the thought of impressing him, I know that the narrator is confident in herself. For some reason, I get this tone of lust from the poem, as high heels are often associated with flamboyancy, and because she wants to know what he would think of her in those shoes. I also enjoyed how she compares the thoughts of him to bubblegum, I perceived the comparison to how irritating it is to get gum stuck underneath your shoe.
Alexis Madrigal
ReplyDeletenew shoes and an old flame
This poem was an interesting read. The structure of the poem was something I had never seen before, I decided to look that up and discovered that it's called "concrete poetry". Its just a way where the words are arranged to depict the subject which is comparing how these luxurious heels make her feel the way her old flame used to make her feel. The author uses words like "kinky" "skinny call-girl heels" which makes me think she's referencing something else.
Also, I think this piece was able to show the range and variety that comes with writing poems. It offers a different form and style of poetry.
Lorena Dee Cervantes
ReplyDeleteMs. Cervantes introduces a contrast unique to the minority experience, specifically the Mexican Americans. She does this through comparing the world of her imagination versus the world of reality. Her inner universe is filled with gentle people speaking kind words, where poets are glorious and art is respected. Reality, however, is very different. Right outside her door, it is violent, brutal and cannot be reasoned away. The pressure introduced through the image of the two worlds in endless disagreement is continued throughout the poem, until it breaks free with her concluding response to the Young White Man’s question. Racism, according to Ms. Cervantes, is not a question of intelligence or belief. Those two ideals are not important to the existence of prejudice. Hate, she tells us, doesn’t need a personal endorsement. It’s doing just fine on its own.
Adam Rivas
ReplyDeletePoem for the White Young Man by Lorna Dee Cervantes
This poem gave me the chills considering that she points out how there violent acts between races yet we don't know about them since they don't happen to us. It is disturbing to know that right outside your front door something bad can happen to you due to your race. She mentions how everything is great and peaceful between the people of her race, but there will always be a person or people of a different race who will try to cause harm or proceed to do a racial act such as the burning crosses. She also mentions that the wounds caused from harm are deeper emotionally than physically knowing that there is hatred toward her. This is an amazing poem which sends a deep and powerful message to a white individual who is naive to the fact that this woman has to live in fear of racial acts. The author makes it a point to say that she does not believe in causing violence between races, but that they will still continue to go on.
Linda Ponce
ReplyDeleteLorna Dee Cervantes
I think Cervantes explains in such good detail the war that exists between people over races through this poem. at the end she mentions how she doesn't believe in the war between races, but how she is aware that there is war. The war exsists because people differentiate each other by race, income, and social status. All these things make up a war between races. She gives perfect insight of what happens today, describing how there are snipers in schools aiming at her children. Now, she says her children, but by her last name I believe she is Latino, and a lot of the shootings are made to innocent people that don't belong to the supposed race the lands belong to.
This story gave me major flashbacks because I was raised in a state known for racism, not just towards black but to different races that are not white. I remember getting in trouble for speaking Spanish with my Hispanic peers in class. We would stop talking in Spanish just to prevent a bigger punishment, but I remember thinking, is this not a free country. Why must I stop talking in a language I've been taught just because you don't understand it.
I honestly don't think I would change anything about this poem. It really made me feel and remember how this country is indeed at war.
Lorna Dee Cervantes
ReplyDeleteI'm not good with poems, but this poem was easy for me to understand, so I think. It makes me feel that the valley people should not leave this place (RGV). But I think we should all do what we want to do, so if your dream is out there, then go look for it, and you will find it. I feel that racism is a thing from the past, but some people still live in the past. I believe that the biggest thing holding our race Los Mexicanos de el valle from being successful, is that people down here don't help eachother out, their is a lot of envy and jealousy, and that's what holds our people down. Fuck racism, and fuck all this slave mentality bullshit, we living in a new era, let's all just move on and go with the flow wherever it goes.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBasketball by Sherman Alexie.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed basketball because the narrator speaks about how his dreams are broken because he's a native American with dreams of being a basketball player. I felt that the story had elements of discrimination. Became he was an Indian, people saw him as a minority and some one who is incompetent of fulfilling his dream. He carries this abuse that he dealt with, but with the metaphor about the horses, it was an indication that he is still the same person, regardless of what people tell him. Now, it was ambiguous for me, the reader, to know if he was male or female, but my interpretation made me feel that he was a male.
New shoes and an old flame
ReplyDeleteI really liked what the author wrote in her poem. In this sense most people can relate to this poem. I know that I can relate because when I play my favourite video game, I am reminded of my old fling. The way she wrote about her ex didn't seem she had anything against that person. Its just the little thing that make us remember the good memories we had with them. She was very expressive with her words. I like her use of imagery. Overall the poem was really nice and easy to comprehend. I also like the fact that the structure of the poem was in a high heel shoe formation.
I personally really enjoyed reading Basketball by Sherman Alexie. He speaks about a lifestyle that has grown very common to him. He mentions that "after a few beers here" that the Indian natives of the reservation grow a sizable confidence to take on such a legend of his stature. He had a move known as the Crazy Horse jump shot. The name "Crazy Horse" is significant in this poem because it speaks about a Native American War leader that ranks amongst the most influential and iconic of the tribal members and is even featured in a U.S Postal Stamp in 1982. The narrator could have possibly been known for such a cluctch and empowering shot. So when he speaks that after a few drinks they want to go one-on-one with a legend like himself, they manage a wager and he always comes out on top. He even pokes fun at "Lester FallsApart" as that his the nickname given to him for lack of athleticism compared to others. They throw some extra shade on him when he's the one standing on of a trash can imitating a basketball hoop basically stating, that's what you're good for either way. When he says, "someone always finishes the night bareback, like it should be" speaks volumes about his confidence and his great talent on what he's been able to do to his fellows natives. Winning has become the norm and he doesn't see it any other possible way. He says he goes home to hang up another shirt in his closet as tokens of graditude for number of wins. Yet when he mentions, "Another Crazy Horse dream without a skeleton or skin" is major is regards to how he feels about what he's doing. Yes he understands that he wins day in and day out but he questions himself, "what for? Why do I do this? What benefit do I receive?" He has nothing to show for his accomplishments and triumphs. Almost as his talents in this reservations are restricted and lack a foundation to fall back on or to stand up for.
ReplyDelete