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| David Hernandez |
As I was reading through David Hernandez’s poems in The Wind Shifts anthology of recent Latino/a poetry, one of the first things that struck me was that many of the elements that I have come to think of as typical in Southwest Latino/a literature were not present very often. Sure, there were mentions of California, a poem about the speaker’s inability to speak Spanish, and an allusion to a coyote (specifically Wile E.), but most of his poems seemed to focus on events that are, well, normal. Menial labor, sex, mourning, hospitals, and even traffic are all valid topics in Hernandez’s poems. There are poems that present more unusual circumstances (finding a dead possum underneath a porch, a fight between old men in at nursing home buffet, musings on the butterfly effect, what it’s like to be the wife of a taxidermist), but even these circumstances seems strangely relatable.
While Hernandez does not explicitly write about political and social matters, this does not mean that he is unaware of them, only that he wishes to talk about a wide variety of topics that aren’t always specific to the Latino/a community. As Francisco Aragon notes in the introduction to the anthology, Latino/a poets are not limited to being overtly political, but are free to explore “language and aesthetics” and any topic they desire (1). Hernandez’s poems are a good instance of this: he uses simple, elegant language to mimic the speech patterns of English in order to describe moments in the daily life of people within and without the Latino/a community, effectively giving him a wide audience.
Perhaps it is the way that Hernandez is able to use such simple language so powerfully that makes me like his poems so much - many of my other favorite poets take similar approaches to demonstrating that just because language is simple doesn’t mean it is ineffective. Take the beginning of the poem below:
Man on an Island
By island I mean this narrow stretch of lawn
dividing the road, a boulder here and here,
little trees with trunks as thick as broom handles.
By man I mean the one pushing the mower
with a red bandana wound around his head,
his face enameled in sweat.
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| "ThreeThink" by David Hernandez |
Hernandez’s presents a metaphor and then immediately proceeds to break it down piece by piece, painting an image of a man “surrounded / not by water but by tar” with cars driving by like sharks. By the end of the poem the speaker’s suggestion that the man could send off a message in a bottle (the quintessential man-stranded-on-an-island approach to rescue) seems like a logical move for someone who is so isolated in the plain sight of a bustling city. (149)
Another poem in which Hernandez takes something easily recognizable and makes it wholly new is “Wile E. Coyote Achieves Nirvana,” in which the oft-foiled cartoon predator realizes that his attachment to earthly desires is causing him to suffer. In the cartoons it’s hard not to have at least some sympathy for the Coyote despite his ineptitude and fanaticism, and it is this sympathy that is expounded upon it the poem. Hernandez takes us into the mind of the Coyote, imagining what it must be like to be reborn after another each ridiculous death. It wasn’t long before I was envisioning myself and the rest of humanity running around as hapless cartoon creatures, each unable to stop chasing the impossible. When “the bulb of enlightenment / blazes over [the Coyote’s] head,” and he realizes that “craving equals suffering,” I was relieved and saddened (144). One of the hazards of identifying with a cartoon scavenger is that when said cartoon scavenger gives up his life’s goal you start imagining what it would be like to lose your desires and motivations. And all this from a poem about a Loony Toons character who happens to be a creature that is now associated not only with the mangy animal, but human traffickers!
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| "Flower" by David Hernandez |
Hernandez’s ability to imbue seemingly whimsical events with thought-provoking ideas does not mean that he is incapable of writing poems that are more overtly emotional. Take “Dear Spanish,” for instance. The speaker of this poem is quite literally addressing the Spanish language, expressing remorse for “kicking [it] in the shin in kindergarten” and asking to be blessed with the ability to speak it so that he can say goodbye to his grandfather who is leaving to retire in Chile (150). Ultimately, the speaker is unable to make that last connection to his family and is forced to reflect on how he is blocked from communicating in either English or Spanish, instead turning to “a language built on silence / where every word is swallowed instead of said” (150). The poem isn’t so much tragic as it is sad, but it is certainly heart-wrenching.
Naturally, the wealth of poems that David Hernandez has published means that trying to find common elements in all of them is somewhat futile. However, in what I have read of his work I find that he doesn’t bash you over the head with the messages he is getting across, nor does he aim to get a reaction by shocking you with overly dramatic images. Rather, Hernandez takes an approach that allows him to gradually reveal new and intriguing ways of thinking about life in general. The aspects of life in question may be grounded in a Latino/a framework (as evidenced in his poems that mention language, South American countries, Southwestern imagery, or class status), but they may also be much broader in scope. In my mind, Hernandez is acknowledging the unique aspects of a variety of cultures while seeking to remind his readers that there are a great many aspects of life that merit a closer look, regardless of their origin.
Other Poems I Liked
Additional Information
David Hernandez is currently a professor at University of California, Irvine. In addition to this he has also worked as a web designer and artist, and has published three volumes of poetry (Hoodwinked, Always Danger, and A House Waiting for Music) and two young adult novels (Suckerpunch, and No More Us for You) which have been well received. In 2011 he received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry. More of his biography, poems, publications,and art can be found at his website here.
Bibliography
Hernandez, David. The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry. Ed. Francisco Aragón. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2007. 142-150. Print.
“Poetry.” David Hernandez, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.davidahernandez.com/poetry.html>
“The Official David Hernandez Website.” David Hernandez, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.davidahernandez.com>
Tillie, I really appreciated your comment about Hernandez tackling subject matter that is "broader in scope." I think one aspect of Latino writing that sometimes gets lost in these discussions is that it can't be entirely defined by those characteristic that distinguish Latino authors from writers in other ethnic or cultural groups. There are times when the fact that the writer is Latino is very relevant to the context of her or his work, and other times when it is not.
ReplyDeleteThe poem "Dear Spanish" also stuck out to me, because I am also a Latino who has been in some awkward situations due to my poort Spanish skills. I was glad to hear Hernandez talking about that, because it's something that I don't think gets addressed that much--but is a reality for many intergenerational relationships in Latino families.