The poem I read is called “Como Tú/ Like You/ Like me” by Richard Blanco. In this poem specifically, you can see how it’s bilingual. From the title itself, you can infer to what’s coming when you read it, such as it is about a person’s connection to something or someone. In this poem, you can thoroughly see how the author uses common phrases” like” to show imagery. It also uses “Como Tú “from the title throughout the poem to visualize the author’s point. The author uses a lot of allusions such as “lakes” and “farms” to signify a bigger picture to explore the meaning of the poem. In stanza 3 you can see some lament such as “unnamed road I can’t find” (Blanco 3 ). To signify a loss of who you are and where you are heading in your path. Overall, this poem has more of a closed structure because of the pattern that follows throughout the entire poem. An example would be how the author uses words repeatedly. Such as the poem using “Como Tu” where you can see the author uses it repeatedly. The author uses “Like the wind, Como Tù, I carry songs, howls, whispers, thunder growl” (Blanco 4). This quote is important because it explains the meaning of the poem when you feel you are being drafted to a place where you are foreign and have so much to say but can’t. The people/ group that’s being addressed is for the “D.A.C.A DREAMers and all the nation’s immigrants”. The speaker is a non-native English speaker, the author is very relatable in a way that he wants people all over to connect from his experience to what other people have gone through. The setting in this poem could be in the city during 2012 because that’s when it was D.A.C.A was first introduced. The title connects to the rest of the poem because even if you were not born in a country that you may still call it home and have the same rights that anyone else born there has. The title is basically a way to say that. I and you are the same. The title is very significant because it gives you the answer to the entire poem and restates it so much in the poem it is clear what the author is trying to imply. After I read the poem it became so clear what the message of the entire poem was and I could relate to what’s being said and can imagine the loss and pain of not being able to make a place in your home. My conclusion is that people struggle to find a better life and think by moving somewhere foreign that will be easy. Which would be some inner conflict? This creates tension and a lot of thoughts because not everyone is accepting of unfamiliar people in their “home” so it can become a difficult being that person and finding a balance. “ Like thirst, like hunger, we ache the need to save ourselves, and our country from itself” (Blanco 4). The author’s intent is to show how people from D.AC.A want something to be different and for that, we fight hard to so meaning not only for the people that need this opportunity of life but for the country itself because of the people that live there and their effects. On people that aren’t native to that country.
When I initially read this poem, I knew precisely what was happening. His poem was not just wording the way he explained about how he sometimes wants to erase the music of his name in Spanish. It was an experience that I can relate to sometimes and when I read it instantly took me through memory lane. It was such an enjoyable reading of the poem then trying to say it. Making it even more impactful for people from D.A.C.A but also everyone else that has ever felt this way. It made me think about a young lady experiencing this and having these feelings she delineated by adding symbolism to it. I could relate being in a spot that is not home to me or that I’m not prepared to acknowledge it considering the conditions. Likewise, because they do not conceive you in a nation, it characterizes if that is the thing you call your home. I concur with what the poem is stating because it’s something that everybody has experienced in their lifetime. It expands my point of view Was opposed to the conflict of how people are going through life-changing experiences to find what they are looking for. Which furthers my perspective that the world is very technical and doesn’t like changes. The system the creator uses would be bilingual as opposed to English and having symbolism to the poem. After perusing it my state of mind wasn’t transformed, it made me contemplate how I felt when I was in that position and the amount I could identify with what’s happening. I would prescribe this to other people, particularly individuals that I realize are bilingual because they can identify with the inclination. At a certain point, you don’t feel you have a place some place, yet you battle against it when you do.
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