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.