"I Am Joaquin"

The first thing I noticed about this poem is that it has a lot of  repetition Repetition of the words, "I am", and then after that was said there was a different historical figure of Mexico, or an idea of Mexico or a feature of Mexico. By recognizing that it made me wonder if the "I" is Mexico or a combination of Mexico and its people. The shear bulk of the poem is listing things, qualities, ideas, concepts, people, tragedies that have happened, things that need to be done, dreams that are wanted.

This is a free verse poem. As I read it, it was more of a short story than a poem... As mentioned earlier the repetition added emphasis to the poem and the meaning and theme of the poem. It made it constant, each repetition added more to it and building it up.

The tone I got from the poem was an unhappy one. Filled with frustration, anger and sadness with only minimal hope until the ending lines of determination, "I SHALL ENDURE! I WILL ENDURE!"

The theme that I got from the poem was about Mexico and the Mexican's fighting for their land, their freedom, their art, their music, and their culture. 

Some  of the lines that I thought were really interesting were: "And now! I must choose between the paradox of victory of the spirit, despite the physical hunger, or to exist in the grasp of American social neurosis, sterilization of the soul and a full stomach. I liked how he gave his choices and then added the consequences of each choice of his decision. It showed that he was really torn between what he wanted to do and what he should do. He is struggling just like all the others of Mexico.

"But...THE GROUND WAS MINE." is another thing he said, and I think what he is saying here is that even though the people have been through war and had all sorts of rulers and their country has been pretty much stripped down the land of Mexico and the heritage of Mexico is still there and its still theirs. They will always have their memories.

On the second page of the poem something else popped out at me: "And from these words grew men who prayed and fought for their own worth as human beings, for that GOLDEN MOMENT of FREEDOM". The background to the poem is the Christian church taking over and men believing they would be free again. But it was the all caps lettering that really made me think. Its only one moment of freedom, and sometimes those one moments in life make things alright and give you hope, but on the flip side I thought is all the war and things that have happened to the people and the country really worth that moment, will the moment last and sustain them? And then about the freedom - the freedom will not last, it is only a moment of freedom. These lines made me sad when I thought about it all.

"The crown was gone but all its parasites remained, and ruled, and taught, with gun and flame and mystic power". This also stood out to me. Even though the Spanish lost they had such an influence that it was as though they were still ruling over Mexico. The Mexicans are still suppressed by the Spanish, still held under by gun power.

While reading I also found a passage that sounded like guilt to me. "I look at myself And see part of me Who rejects my father 

and my mother And dissolves into the melting pot To disappear in the shame. I sometimes Sell my brother out And I reclaim him"

To me it sounds like he is torn once again between assimilating to the newer changes while trying to remain true to his country and to his culture and heritage.

Overall I think that this poem is about the Mexican history and their struggles that the people went through. They are afraid of the past being forgo then but try their best to make sure that its not. They battled and fought for their homeland. Some are still strong and others have weakened and succumed to what they are expected to become.