ENG 102
Cline
2/13/11
Poem Response
The two poems that created an emotional reaction in me were “Photograph from September 11th” by Wislawa Szymborska and “Immigrants in Our Own Land” by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Szymborska’s poem created a strong saddened memory of September. It made me think of all the people that lost their lives that tragic day. It let me put myself in the situation of the unlucky people who were forced to either jump or face a fiery death. I put myself in their shoes and thought of how hard it must have been jumping from the upper stories of the World Trade Center’s. I thought of what would be going through my head on that long drop to my death. It brought a very sad and almost disturbing memory and picture to my head. This poem was very moving and Szymborska did a very good job of portraying these unlucky few who were forced to jump to their deaths.
The second poem that moved me was Baca’s poem about immigration and what immigrants have to go through. Baca does a very good job at describing the thoughts that go through immigrants heads about what they expect of the “new world”, and how very often these expectations are far from fulfilled. I felt very bad for the people immigrating to a “new world” to have a chance at a better life, but end up working for next to no money and not improving their life at all. I put myself in the immigrants’ shoes who had been there for a long period of time, watching the new immigrants come in with the gleam in their eyes thinking they are about to change their lives for the better. It would make me very sad knowing that in just a short time these new immigrants will come to the realization that their lives will not change for the better but if anything they will only get worse. I found it very disturbing that this is generally the average immigrants story.
Wislawa Szymborska
Here is a link to some of Szymborska's other works and bio.
Jimmy Santiago Baca
Here is a link to some of Baca's other works.
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