| dc.description.abstract | This manuscript contains thirty-three poems, primarily written in free verse and prose. Several poems are expressed in a hybrid form; integrated in these poems are traditional stanzas, with dialogue linked visually by text. Using a mixture of Spanish and English, many of these poems represent the culture I inhabited as a child and adolescent in south Texas. The poetry is divided into five sections: El Otro Lado, Esta Loco, Exchanges, Mementos, and Those & Them. Each section contains poems sharing common themes, representing various stages of unearthed grief. In El Otro Lado, I mourn my displacement from south Texas. I grieve the plight of the undocumented, and remember my childhood friend, Paquita, a girl who suffered greatly across the chain link fence separating our houses. In Esta Loco, I acknowledge the reality of an abusive former spouse and mourn the pain. The third part, Exchanges, laments the communication that is so frequently misinterpreted. In Mementos, I realize an imagined bond with a brother and grieve the political climate of my son's generation. Finally, I grieve the way prejudice masquerades as ignorance in Those & Them. Nonetheless, I recognize that during the process of recovering from my grief, I celebrate my culture, my innate optimism, and my survival. | |
