For this blog post I chose to talk about “Immigrants in our own land”. I felt like I connected well with this poem since I could just clearly scratch out the true underlying meaning. The title itself gives you a good clue of what to expect. When I read the title the first time I was thinking to myself, “I wonder if this poem talks about the Indians being placed on reservations”. When I read the poem the first time, I was kind of close but not quite, although I did enjoy reading and translating the underlying meaning as I read along.
In my previous English 102 class I read more than a handful of poems, but very few were about racism and ethnicity. As sad as the true meaning of the poems like these are, they are quite intriguing. A poem like this is almost an entire history lesson within itself. I had a bitter taste towards poems and analysis’s in the beginning, but since I have learned to appreciate the art in these poems, I have grown much to liking them.
In the beginning of the poem, Baca starts out with, ”We are born with dreams in our hearts, looking for better days ahead. At the gates we are given papers, our old clothes are taken, and we are given overalls like mechanics wear. We are given shots and doctors ask questions”. This is the intro that gave me the initial hint that this poem was possibly talking about Indians being placed on reservations and being put to work. Although as I kept reading on it was including all races, whites, blacks, Chicanos (Spanish), and Indians. All in all this is a great poem and I recommend it to all.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/179708
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteWhile I found your analysis quite interesting, and poetry is open to each owns interpretation. I must respectfully disagree with your claims as to this being related to American Indians. This poem to me was about the "new fish" in the prison systems. The prison is in their own country, but now they have to adapt to a whole new way of life and a whole new order of people.
Teresa