american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
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MIGRATORY AGENCY 131<br />
In this f<strong>in</strong>al l<strong>in</strong>e, <strong>the</strong> speaker describes his ancestors’ deaths <strong>in</strong><br />
Spanish. Even though Spanish is now <strong>the</strong> controll<strong>in</strong>g language, <strong>the</strong>y<br />
rema<strong>in</strong> silent, wordless, absent. “Sus cuerpos” (<strong>the</strong>ir bodies), <strong>in</strong><br />
Villanueva’s f<strong>in</strong>al stanza, are “cansadas cicatrices” (tired scars) that<br />
have arrived (“han llegado”) at a “humilde tumba.” Their bodies,<br />
<strong>the</strong>n, arrive at a s<strong>in</strong>gle humble tomb—this communal grave ends <strong>the</strong><br />
poem on a note of collective experience, community, and heritage.<br />
But here humility comes not <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> language of <strong>the</strong> conqueror, as it<br />
does <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> epigraph, but <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Spanish “humilde,” which is a more<br />
mellifluous word than its English counterpart, “humble.” Small<br />
consolation, <strong>the</strong>n, that <strong>the</strong>y die <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> beauty of <strong>poetry</strong>, <strong>in</strong> “la humilde<br />
tumba.” For <strong>the</strong> speaker, this end seems <strong>in</strong>evitable due to <strong>the</strong> momentous<br />
“por eso” (literally for this, but usually translated <strong>the</strong>refore) <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
f<strong>in</strong>al stanza: “y por eso / sus cuerpos, / cansadas cicactrices, / han<br />
llegado / hasta la humilde tumba.” Though not as dramatic, this<br />
<strong>the</strong>refore hangs on <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> l<strong>in</strong>e and strongly suggests an<br />
<strong>in</strong>evitable outcome much as it does <strong>in</strong> James Wright’s “Autumn Beg<strong>in</strong>s<br />
<strong>in</strong> Mart<strong>in</strong>s Ferry, Ohio” (1963). In Wright’s poem, <strong>the</strong> destitution,<br />
frustration, and latent violence of poor fa<strong>the</strong>rs <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> steel belt of <strong>the</strong><br />
Ohio Valley is made manifest <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir sons’ high school football games:<br />
Therefore<br />
Their sons grow suicidially beautiful<br />
At <strong>the</strong> beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g of October,<br />
And gallop terribly aga<strong>in</strong>st each o<strong>the</strong>r’s bodies. (636–637)<br />
These l<strong>in</strong>es show how <strong>the</strong> Spanish “por eso” packs an emotional<br />
punch <strong>in</strong> comparison to “<strong>the</strong>refore,” which sounds cold, distant, and<br />
legalistic; “por eso” sounds like a plea, a slow drip <strong>in</strong>to sadness whose<br />
three syllables can be pa<strong>in</strong>fully drawn out.<br />
Villanueva’s poem sets some basic groundwork for my understand<strong>in</strong>g<br />
of migratory agency. The poem moves strategically between<br />
languages like a migrant worker does between locations. Without this<br />
migration, <strong>the</strong>se poems would not be able to exert external <strong>in</strong>fluence<br />
back on <strong>the</strong> forces of culture and language that work to dissipate<br />
Lat<strong>in</strong>a/o communities. 10 Cervantes’s “Poema para los Californios<br />
Muertos” (Emplumada 1981) shares many strategic and rhetorical similarities<br />
with “Nuestros abuelos,” but Cervantes prom<strong>in</strong>ently features<br />
<strong>the</strong> voice of a first-person speaker dramatically present <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> poem’s<br />
actions. This first-person speaker vivifies both <strong>the</strong> identity of <strong>the</strong><br />
Chicana agent and her collective cultural memory, <strong>the</strong>reby br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g