The poem Once Upon a Time: Surfside, Miami was the easiest of Richard Blanco’s poems for me to understand. In the poem, Blanco expresses nostalgia for a place he misses and evidently hasn’t been to since he was younger. He uses this place also as a location for reflection. If he was there, looking over the ocean as he once did, he would obviously have some different views. However, he believes core aspects of him would stay the same. He writes, “still searching this sea, still facing this same/ silent horizon, I ask again: Who am I? What/ should I do? The answer, as always: Everything.” This reflects Blanco’s constant mentality. Even through his long career as a poet and life as a human, he still possesses the same motivations he had 30 years earlier.
Richard Blanco’s poem America was just the “right amount” of understanding. It took some effortful dissection, but I believe the poem is discussing the mixing of cultural values and the importance of their synthesis. The first two stanzas were confusing to me at first, but they have their place in the poem. They essentially establish Blanco’s background by describing his Cuban culture. The following stanzas begin the introduction of American culture into his family. For Blanco, life as an immigrant was interesting. He wanted to hold onto his and his family’s cultural values, but he also wanted to participate in the American traditions of his friends and peers. As a child, he was the only member of his family that spoke English. He came to his family and asked. “Finally they agreed: /this Thanksgiving we would have turkey,/ as well as pork.” I believe that Blanco uses this poem to discuss the different components of his identity and how he is a cultural blend of his Cuban heritage and American roots.
The poem I find the hardest to understand is Burning in the Rain. This poem was very difficult for me to analyze and I feel as if it could have different interpretations. For me, I believe that in this poem, Blanco is discussing the desires or qualities he has and the impossibility to get rid of them. Right off the bat, I noticed the contradiction in the title. “Burning in the Rain” implies the relationship of fire and water, which are opposites. Burning in the Rain is therefore a paradox and an impossibility. Blanco talks about dispelling bad habits of his, like smothering those who love him or trying to be too much like his father. However, he says that he can’t get rid of these qualities because they make him him. Trying to burn these things is like trying to start a fire in the rain. However, the end is more difficult for me to interpret. Blanco writes, “Instead of burning, my pages turned/ into water lilies floating over puddles,/ then tiny white cliffs as the sun set,/ finally drying all night under the moon/ into papier-mâché souvenirs.” I do not know if this signifies the release of these qualities or if Blanco is trying to say they have turned into something he is proud of in his identity. This poem took a lot to decipher.