Poet Spotlight: Said

This poem is inspired by the article "Issue Overview: Immigration reform" found at newsela.com

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Shhh

The coyote whispers

It's nearly pitch black

As the night swallows the sounds of

the animals of the wild.

Except for little Humberto's

7 years old and as brave as can be

he silently follows the coyote from tree to tree

Shh, the migra will find us

The coyote continues

Humberto walks along

looking at the river in between

the United States and Mexico.

Mama

Papa

Only for me to see them again.

For a new life.

A new beginning.

He dips into the water

and he swims.

AUTHOR'S EXPLANATION

I chose to write this poem because I feel as if my family, my Mexican family deserves more of a voice than they've been given. There's a daily struggle for children of my age and still, much younger. People with a dream, a dream of a better life. Children waking up in the middle of the night, crying about not seeing their parents, remembering seeing their cousins and family kicking the bucket with a death threat from the cartel. I don't seem to understand how if the rich and powerful don't want that to happen to them, then why would they let it happen to someone else. Let them have a better life. Let them try.

As for the structure, I used quite a bit of figurative language in this poem. In a few lines, I used rhyme, alliteration, and unusual line breaks. For example, on lines 3 and 4, I break for a pause in the speech. In lines 7 and 8, I rhymed the -ee sound. Finally, I used alliteration in line 4 of this poem, as I thought it would give my poem a bit more feeling. Thank you for reading.