Multicultural Poetry

Bibliography

Soto, Gary. 1992. NEIGHBORHOOD ODES. Ill. by David Diaz. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0152568794

Summary

Reminiscing of childhood memories, Gary Soto takes the reader back to the everyday experiences of a child growing up and living in a Hispanic neighborhood. Joy and simplicity find their way through poems about the fresh, hot tortillas, eating chicharrones and pomegranates, to Sunday afternoon cookouts at the local park. Though the theme is centered on childhood memories within the Mexican-American community, one needs only to recall their own childhood and a connection will soon be established.

Quality and Appeal

Neighborhood Odes is written as twenty-one free verse poems. The poems are arranged with a table of contents at the beginning of the book. It is evident that family traditions have had a lasting impact on Mr. Soto. The poet fondly recalls making tortillas in “Ode to La Tortilla” with the lines, “The tortillas are still warm, In a dish towel, warm as gloves just taken off, finger by finger. Mama` is rolling them out.” In “Ode to Fireworks,” the poet and his brother have no patience for nightfall and set off all their fireworks before dusk. The poet says, It’s not yet dark. We’re mad for not waiting. I punch him in the arm. And he punches me back. We climb onto the roof, My brother first, And we watch the sky.” These words and actions arouse feelings from one’s own childhood and the special bonds we formed.

Within each poem is the interlingual use of both Spanish and English: “I am a diablito with a sparkler,” or  “Mi perrito rolls His tongue for the taste of a dropped chicharron.” This infusion of dual languages adds enjoyment to the reading of each poem. To assist the reader with understanding of these Spanish words and phrases, there is a glossary located at the back of the book.

David Diaz provides black and white illustrations, which are scattered throughout the book. Each illustration is complimentary of the poem in detail and emotion. An example of detail can be seen in the illustration that accompanies the poem “Ode to El Molcajete,” where a young child has flames shooting out his mouth after licking a spoon sitting in the molcajete where Fresno chiles have just been grinded.

Neighborhood Odes abounds the descriptive imagery. In “Ode to La Tortilla” the tortillas are described as “flutes When rolled in butter Dripping down my elbow.” In “Ode to Los Raspasdos” the delight of eating a refreshing snow cone is described as “Grape that stains The mouth with laughter, Orange that’s a tennis ball of snow you could stab with a red-striped straw.”  It is as if you could actually taste the sweetness of the snow cone. In “Ode To The Sprinkler” you can sense the contentment that is felt with lawn sprinklers when no pool is available. Soto writes, “Only sprinklers On lawns, The helicopter of water slicing our legs. We run through the sprinkler, water on our lips, water dripping from eyelashes.”

Tone and mood range from lightheartedness to ominous. In the poem “Ode To Senor Leal’s Goat” humor is evident as Senor Leal’s goat grabs a lit pipe from the gentleman’s hand and runs through the yard. A comical plea is witnessed with the poem, "Ode To The Mayor," when a child writes to the Mayor for assistance, “Not about my sister But about Danny. He’s bothering everybody.” In the haunting poem, “Ode to La Llorona,” the weeping woman will “point a long finger, gnarled root of evilness, And stare a soft Hole in your lungs.”

Gary Soto’s Neighborhood Odes is an engaging ensemble of poetry infused with remembrances of days gone by. The book will appeal to both children and adults alike with its universal themes of family and community. The addition of dual languages will enhance the reading and promote an appreciation of diverse cultures within the classroom.  Familiarity of topics will delight the youngest to the oldest of readers.

Spotlight Poem

Ode to Family Photographs   

This is the pond, and these are my feet.        

This is the rooster, and this is more of my feet.

Mama was never good at pictures.

This is a statue of a famous general who lost an arm,

And this is me with my head cut off.

This a trash can chained to a gate,

This is my father with his eyes half-closed.

This a photograph of my sister

And a giraffe looking over her shoulder.

This is our car’s front bumper.

This is a bird with a pretzel in its beak.

This is my brother Pedro standing on one leg on a rock,

With a smear of chocolate on his face.

Mama sneezed when she looked

Behind the camera: the snapshots are blurry,

The angles dizzy as a spin on a merry-go-round.

But we had fun when Mama picked up the camera.

How can I tell?

Each of us laughing hard.

Can you see? I have candy in my mouth.

I selected this poem because it made me think of the thousands of pictures my parents took when my sister and I were younger. I grew up in the age of the Kodak camera with the flashing bulb that blinded you a good fifteen seconds after the photo was taken. There was no instant photo to look at. You had to wait to have your film developed. My dad was the king of the slide show. We would have evenings where all we did was view the slides from family vacations, school presentations, holidays, etc. It was inevitable that several slides would have a headless body, out of focus shot, or a half shot of a national monument. The poem elicited happy memories from when I was a child. I felt as if Mr. Soto and I shared a childhood experience across cultures.

Connections

1. Introduce the poem by bringing in a special family photograph and sharing the story  

    behind the photo.

2. Have children bring a photo of their family to share.

3. Have a discussion about imperfections as seen in the poem, "Ode To Family

    Photographs." Does everything in our lives need to be perfect to enjoy it? Think of a    

    time in your life when you were able to accept imperfection and still be happy.