Outside Reading #6

In his last book he published is entitled Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler. He rewrites the events of his days in chili smuggling. He carried peppers from Texas into Mexico and I guess it was illegal. This book is interesting because he repeats the dialogue in Spanish. He recreates the conversation when he tried to explain himself to his mother. He writes about his cousins and spends the entire part of the poem creating the surroundings which are very realistic. His mother told him, “I see you looking at yourself put letters on paper” (Herrera 235). This shattered him a bit. It doesn’t explain much about how she reacted to him being a smuggler or of how that conversation went but he says just enough to show her disappointment. Of course she doesn’t want him smuggling, but at the same time she can’t see him writing. He says, “All my illusions of being a poet shrank, the wings of the eagle-writer that sees all twittered into the shadow of a sparrow…” (235). I think is this a beautiful description of how he felt. It show he really did want to be a poet and thought he could do anything when writing and maybe he was just smuggling for the time being, with his cousins, to make a little money. Throughout these poems he grows and changes. By the end he is a writer and he talks to his mother again, only this time she is dead and cannot talk back. He feels good about his life and she would be proud.
The last part of this book is separated into 5 sections. One for each of the Chinese elements which I think is interesting since the entire book is focused on Latin culture. These elements are water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. What I don’t understand is how the poems correspond with the elements. Maybe it’s because I don’t know anything about Chinese elements, but the poems don’t seem to significantly fit into each section. I did like the poems though, they were more about people and how they deal and how they have dealt. He finishes his book with a poem called Let Me Tell You What a Poem Brings. I think this poem is amazing because he writes a poem about what poems are about. He spells out exactly what poets are trying to do through there writing. He wrote, “…first, you must know the secret, there is no poem to speak of, it is a way to attain a life without boundaries…” (Herrera 301). I think is so true that poems do not have boundaries. Poets can go where ever they want and often it turns out beautiful. He explains what poems feel like saying, “…there you can bathe, you can play, you can even join in on the gossip—the mist, that is, that mist becomes the central to your existence” (301). This is an incredibly deep statement. He depicts writing as being a safe place people can go and these who are in these places is essential to your existence.
I think this relates to what we are talking about in the fact that we have studied many different types of persecution from the views of many different people. Herrera made a point in writing from the voice of a vast array of people. His poems were deep but casual. Often they were about someone’s lifestyle or about where they were from or even just based on a story someone had told them. The entire book had a central theme of exile and hardship but much of what was depicted was the beauty behind it all, or at least his poems were beautifully talking about something not too pretty.

Herrera, Jaun Felipe. All of the World in Light. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 2008.

Outside Reading #5

This book continues with more of the books and time periods written by Herrera. He includes one book called Border-Crosser With a Lamborghini Dream and Loretia Cards and Fortune Poems: A book of Lives. These two books explore very different things and are written during the same year. They explore people and different lifestyles. The second one is almost half written in Spanish. His next book is called Thunderweavers/Tejedoras de Royas. Herrera learned of pillaging and ambushing going on in Mexico and it inspired this book. It’s about four different women, following them moment by moment during these ambushes. He writes in the voice of a mother saying, “They left me, half-buried, among the fields of coffee full of smoke and leaves and mud and blood. I asked them for mercy with my open arms, but they forbade me to speak…” (Herrera 209). This book is particularly interesting to me because not only does he write all the poems in spanish as well as English, but he writes from the voice of different generations. One is a twelve year old girl, the other a mother, and still another is the grandmother. He vividly describes what they have to deal with, the emptiness and the terror. He creates a voice of the people through these four women.
Herrera hit the millennium thinking only of the present. He decided to bring everything to now because that’s all that matters. He wrote a collection called Giraffe on Fire with 28 sections all about the present. He writes, “Who are you? Bending at the jazz kitchen where they play Thelonius. Where they mash green doors on piano keys” (Herrera 225). This line really stuck out to me because I’m kind of a jazz nerd. It made me realize what he was trying to say about mixing cultures. Latin lifestyle is known to be very musical and passionate, playing a lot of what people consider jazz. But at the same time jazz is the only true American music, created here, and Thelonius Monk is one of the most famous jazz musicians ever. This really brought out to me how he is bringing together two cultures under something that is so important to both of them individually. He continues saying, “Catalonia and Rwanda swirl in the waters behind him…My childhood speaks, spellbound, and curls up. No one could own it if they wished” (Herrera 228). This brought out his idea of leaving the past in the past. His home land is far behind him now and he’s moving on, living and thriving. But, on the other hand, you will not lose your memories and your past life, no one can take it from you. I think Herrera is really trying to make a point that it is ok and safe and good for the Latinos to embrace new culture and their old will never leave them.
I think this relates to what we are talking about in persecution because all people need to adapt. People do what is best for them in order to get through situations. We all handle things differently but in the end strive for the same goal. Herrera encourages Latinos to be the voice of their country is a new world and to not hide and wish they were back where they came from.

Herrera, Jaun Felipe. All of the World in Light. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 2008.

Outside Reading #4

Herrera wrote a poem called City Paint. It describes what a city might look like walking down a street, highlighting the important things and really giving the reader a feel of what Latin culture is like. Of course it's very bright and exciting, with many festive colors. He writes, "Pure color. The colors pull me" (Herrera 126). He continues walking down the street pointing out a variety of different people, showing huge diversity. He mentions what people would think looking at him saying, "...raised from a trailer where I was born. Things give me away..." (Herrera 126). He takes very small seemily insignificant things and writes about them beautifully, making it seem like the most important object or idea ever. He takes the stale dry thoughts in one's head everyday and creates a descriptive poem putting everything in new perspectives. He turns everything into part of the culture which it is. He really does an incredible job of painting the city.

Herrera continues his description of Latinos as they move into the 90's. There was rebellion in the streets of L.A. and Herrera wrote a book called Love After the Riots. It is a diary written between two young people. What makes it so interesting is the fact that it isn't written day to day but rather it is written over night. The first entry is from 7:30 pm and the last at 6:01. It recounts a riot and what how they are going to get out. The sequence then moves on to how they will unite in America after things like this. Was it the right choice to come to America and what must they do after soething like this? It's interesting because it seems like an entire time period being talked about even though it was just one riot, one night. The two try and go out but are lost and scared in their own home. Herrera writes, "We are ready to emerge. Is this city ready to breathe--in flames?" (Herrera 170). I think it's interesting that "in flames" is not said right a way. It implies the idea that the city really needs air and is more than ready for a good clean breathe. This is yet another example of the hardships people face. I don't know if this one could be called persecution necessarily but it's still something very difficult that Latinos had to get through together. They did everything in their power to make it work out.

Herrera, Jaun Felipe. All of the World in Light. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 2008.

Outside Reading #3

Herrera continues telling the stories of his people and their life in America. He wrote a book called The Roots of a Thousand Embraces and included one of his poems in this book. It is about who we are as people and is inspired by a painter. The peom creates the image of a beutiful woman and refurs to the painter as "Master". This same person was called a writer as well, trying to make a point. Herrera wrote, "Pretending to Speak; writing with the idea that his word connect with a larger universal system of Master meanings" (Herrera 158). The painter of this picture is speaking without words. He wants to make his voice heard but on a different level, a level of depth that isn't just in words. Spanish culture tends to be more passionate and loving than others and I think this shows through in the poem about the painting.

In another poem Herrera talks again of the harship Latinos faced. He talks about how little they had and how the country itself didn't seem to like them much. The poem itself is kind of confusing but one line really got me. It said, "Listen to me. Your scar speaks to you" (133). The poem personafies North America and calls Latinos it's scar. This quote really reminded me of Night because of all the persecution. Scars don't go away and there is always a story behind them. I can't imagine the scars that the Jews in concentration camps had both mentally and physically. Imagine being liberated and going home but always having that there, speaking to you, endlessly reminding you. Also I think since the poem speaks as the country as a whole it made me thing maybe it could apply to the Nazi's too in the fact that they will never forget what they did to these people. Jewish people will always be around to remind them of their terribleness.

Herrera, Jaun Felipe. All of the World in Light. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 2008.