week 12

Week12

In the poem “Prospectus” by Joe Nieto he write about the struggle of being raised and living a very poor simple life. His battle with having so little including his language skills, seem to keep him from succeeding. He talks about how he made it work with what he had. For example he mentions he ate with his finger and slept on a cradleboard.  In a lot of way I think he is also referring to how he hasn’t been able to live a rich life due to his lack of knowing English. Nieto also mentions that he has prayed to the great spirits and that he only spoke his native language. In the last verse he hopes to one day be able to speak English and I think he prays he will be able to do this in order to survive and succeed.

In the poem “Learning Silence” by Maria Mazziotti Gillan she talks about a different type of struggle. She worries about her physical appearance and that’s she isn’t good enough to be liked because of the way she looks and the way she dresses. She is seeking her teachers approval and hopes her teacher will like her if she is quiet and behaves well. She describe what she thought she would want to look like, which was a girl described with blonde curly hair.