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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148 AMERICAN POLITICAL POETRY<br />
that violence and oppression are passed down through <strong>the</strong> oblivion of<br />
history and through seem<strong>in</strong>gly <strong>in</strong>nocuous cultural practices.<br />
Most importantly, though, <strong>the</strong> speaker’s bicultural vision/perspective—<br />
as both Spanish-speak<strong>in</strong>g Lat<strong>in</strong>o and English-speak<strong>in</strong>g North<br />
American—gives him keen <strong>in</strong>sight <strong>in</strong>to <strong>in</strong>digenous oppression by both<br />
English speakers and Spanish speakers <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> history of <strong>the</strong> western<br />
hemisphere. In his vision, <strong>the</strong>refore, los palos become “machetes,” and<br />
he claims, “Es fácil sacar la sangre dulce / y las tripas azucaradas de los<br />
primeros. / Que juguete, cecean, que cosa” (It’s easy to dry <strong>the</strong> sweet<br />
blood / and <strong>the</strong> sweetened <strong>in</strong>test<strong>in</strong>es of <strong>the</strong> first [Indians]. / What a toy,<br />
<strong>the</strong>y [<strong>the</strong> Indians] lisp, what a th<strong>in</strong>g). This visceral image <strong>in</strong>dicates that<br />
<strong>the</strong> historical memory of oppressed <strong>in</strong>digenous is easily transformed<br />
<strong>in</strong>to a child’s game (and reward), even as “El <strong>in</strong>dio patea como conejo”<br />
(<strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dian kicks like a rabbit) and “La soga encoge el cuello” (<strong>the</strong> rope<br />
shr<strong>in</strong>ks its neck). The poem ends appropriately with <strong>the</strong> speaker watch<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>the</strong> candies scatter <strong>in</strong> his “yarda del olvido” (yard of oblivion).<br />
Villatoro’s poem gives <strong>in</strong>sight <strong>in</strong>to how Spanish-language poems<br />
can embody migratory agency, but it also signifies how U.S. Spanish<br />
poems might have a chang<strong>in</strong>g cultural value, and on chapter 1’s clos<strong>in</strong>g<br />
discussion about <strong>the</strong> embattled, heroic poetic speaker/witness.<br />
On <strong>the</strong> back cover of On Tuesday, when <strong>the</strong> homeless disappeared, <strong>in</strong><br />
which “La Piñata” appears, <strong>in</strong> a f<strong>in</strong>al section of Spanish-only poems,<br />
this section is described as “a statement of ascendance, a strategy for<br />
identity preservation, a gift to <strong>the</strong> cognoscenti” (my emphasis). The<br />
first two descriptions are detailed <strong>in</strong> chapter 3; <strong>the</strong> third strikes me <strong>in</strong><br />
its claim that Spanish-language poems are elite, <strong>in</strong>tellectual-academic<br />
enterprises. Indeed, how th<strong>in</strong>gs have changed s<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>the</strong> Chicano<br />
Movement. More strik<strong>in</strong>gly, Villatoro’s biography beg<strong>in</strong>s: “Marcos<br />
McPeek Villatoro lived <strong>in</strong> Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
those countries’ war years.” Thus, before we learn about his writ<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
we learn that Villatoro has cultural capital as a heroic<br />
poet-witness. Michael Palmer, even Carolyn Forché, would cr<strong>in</strong>ge.<br />
Migratory Agency and<br />
Register Switch<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Victor Hernández Cruz dist<strong>in</strong>guishes between types of bil<strong>in</strong>gual literature,<br />
“mak<strong>in</strong>g a clear differentiation between elite choices and colonial<br />
impositions” (cited <strong>in</strong> Aparicio 164). On one hand <strong>the</strong>re is<br />
bil<strong>in</strong>gualism “that is a writer’s <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r languages,” and on<br />
<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>re is “imposed” bil<strong>in</strong>gualism that impacts “an entire<br />
group of people, a whole culture” (Panoramas 128). This dist<strong>in</strong>ction