Valladares 1 Rachel S. Valladares Pierstorff Essay 3-Contemp.

Poet December 7, 2010 Themes of Sandra Cisneros Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago, Illinois, December 20, 1954, one of seven children and the only daughter (A&E). Cisneros is of Latin descent and her poetry reflects her heritage in the mingling of both English and Spanish. However, since she has been a consummate traveler, her writing is also peppered with different languages, mainly Italian and French. In her book, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, she makes use of all four languages, but for the readers benefit, the majority is in English. Cisneros incorporates the full use of description to make her writing strong. Gary Soto best explains it by saying, Cisneross poems are intrinsically narrative, but not large, meandering paragraphs. She writes deftly, with skill and idea, in the show-me-dont-tellme vein (Encyclopedia). Its this style, which makes Cisneros so fascinating to read. Her poetry can be distinguished by the many themes Cisneros incorporates. Cisneross [book], titled My Wicked, Wicked Ways, is full of such poems on a diversity of [themes] (Encyclopedia). To name a few, Cisneros speaks of love, sex, women, family, and of her childhood. Love for Cisneros isnt beautiful or fulfillment met. There are no soul mates. Its simple, basic and honest. In Am, Amo, Amar Cisneros writes of a woman who knows a facsimile of love. The man shes with treats her as if what they have is love, but

Valladares 2 he clearly says, I do not love you (Cisneros 94). He uses this woman, but does it in a way that she can pretend that its sort of like love. You took me in. Just like the other nights. Same tug. Same urgency. Made love, just as a lover does (94). For a moment or two, the reader is fooled, along with this woman, but its clear that its not love. This theme of love that is mere imitation seems to be a way of life for the majority of the characters in Cisneros love poems. In TriesteCiao to Italy, Cisneros speaks of a love that might have been, but never happened. Cisneros writes, Maybe we shouldve fallen in love. / Or pretended to be (55). There is cynicism to this thought that love doesnt exist in the way we mythologize love (Encyclopedia). Its not perfect and sometimes its not even true. Cisneros prefers to speak of love plainly, sometimes speaking of in the physical, rather than the odes one is so familiar with. Beatrice is an odd geometry/ of elbows and skin, / a lopsided symmetry of sin/ and virtue. And you (82). You, being the person the poem was written for, but this is the closest Cisneros comes to writing traditional love. Following on the vein of love, is sex. Sex or sensuality is a comfortable friend for Cisneros who writes in her poem I the Woman, I am she/ Im dark/ in the veins/ Im intoxicant (29). The poem is of a woman who has this man wrapped around herself, and in need of the pleasure she can give him. Sex doesnt belong to just the women in Cisneros poetry. Men have just as much pull. Its interesting how whether male or

Valladares 3 female, the draw is intense. In Beautiful ManFrance Cisneros writes of a man she wanted because he was beautiful. It almost makes one wonder, if the physical is all she knows. Sex is easier to comprehend. Levels of infatuation are relatable, but limited. There is a barrier in Cisneros poetry of sex, in that love has no place and all it ever will be is sex. The barrier is set in I the Woman, I am/The black smoke/ In your/ Clothes/ And in/ Your/ Mouth (30). There is no desire to be more than a willing partner. Encyclopedia of World Biography best describes Cisneros poetry as physically descriptive and sensuousbordering on the erotic. This is true of her poems on sexual relationships. The women in Cisneros poetry dont follow convention. They are the liberated female persona who basks in her womanhood (Encyclopedia). The women in No Mercy leave their husband and build new lives for themselves. They are the abandoners not the abandonees. Its a clear contrast from Hispanic culture, of women who would stay home, care for the home, but know their husbands were drinking or cheating. For a Southern Man Cisneros states to a man named Bill, Bill, I dont do laundry/ And I dont believe in love (64). This woman doesnt let herself be taken in by what shes known and likely how shes been reared. She says, Ive learned two things. / To let go (64). Cisneros writes a great deal of her poetry from life experience. Much of it is autobiographical. There are snippets that she herself has lived. As noted before, she is the only girl with six brothers. Cisneros learned something new and broke past her conventional upbringing. In her poem, The Poet Reflects on Her Solitary Fate, Cisneros writes, She lives alone now. / Has abandoned the brothers, / the rooms of fathers (37).

Valladares 4 Women are independent beings and have no need to be maintained. Cisneros battles convention with her protagonists and demonstrates to all women that they can choose whichever path they like. They can be independent and original. Cisneros relationship with her family is noted by the poem for which the book is named, My Wicked, Wicked Ways. The poem speaks of the relationship with herself and her parents. She says of her mother and herself, This is me she is carrying/She does not know/ I will turn out bad (24). More than once Cisneros speaks of herself in lacking terms, as if her desire to become independent has come at a cost. Shes likely right, and this disfavor with her family is written of repeatedly. Cisneros recalled that because her brothers expected her to assume a traditional female role, she often felt like she had seven fathers (Encyclopedia). This couldnt have been an easy family dynamic, which Cisneros incorporates into her poetry. Family is almost synonymous with a noose. Cisneros writes of her father who explains her deficiencies by saying she was born under a crooked star (38). Her need to be independent is considered an abnormality. Cisneros states it clearly, An unlucky fate is mine/ to be born woman in a family of men (39), the men being her brothers and father. It is in this way that Cisneros describes her family, the family who must love her, but finds her independence a trial. Cisneros childhood was in a Catholic household, which meant attending Catholic schools. Her poem, Good Hotdogs is a representative scene, with Kiki. Kiki would buy the two of them hotdogs. Wed eat/ You humming/ And me swinging my legs (10). This poem has a lighthearted feel to it that later poems of her childhood dont have. The immaturity of youth follows in her poem, I told Susan Reyes. It is in this poem, that Cisneros typifies a child, who hates another for stinking like chocolate and

Valladares 5 menstruation (13). She is the antagonist, but because of her religious upbringing, cannot tell this girl she hates her. Instead, she tells a nun. Muddy Kid Comes Home speaks of the triviality of mud not tracked into her mothers home, but it holds a deeper message. Cisneros becomes the mud, unwanted, relegated to outside. This deeper message seems to be one that follows into Cisneros adulthood. As a woman who once went to Catholic schools, she sees herself as a wicked nun (34), someone gone awry. The themes found in Cisneros poetry are universal in that most can relate. Most have felt the sting of love unfulfilled or a relationship that is only physical. Families are difficult collectives to belong to, as people are individuals. Personalities and goals differ, making it impossible to fit completely. Childhood is hard on the majority. It wouldnt be childhood otherwise, since its a metamorphosis of the self. No one is the same as their childhood self. Cisneros did well in incorporating that ideal, though it would seem that her core self is much the same. She flouts restrictions and regulations, finding her own path. Cisneros feminism or ideal of women as independents is a progressive idea. Its happened to some extent. Women have found a measure of liberation, but its difficult to say if it will ever be complete. These themes are what make Cisneros poetry so relatable. It will be interesting to see what more she can impart.