DIZZY IN YOUR EYES: POEMS ABOUT LOVE by Pat Mora ~ Culture 3

DIZZY IN YOUR EYES: POEMS ABOUT LOVE by Pat Mora

Author: Pat Mora

Title:  Dizzy In Your Eyes: Poems About Love

Publisher:  Alfred A. Knopf

Publication Date: 2010

ISBN:  9780375843754

Plot Summary

A collection of poems about the ups and downs, greats and failures of love by award-winning poet Pat Mora.

Critical Analysis

When I read “poems about love,” I automatically assumed all the poems in Dizzy In Your Eyes were going to be about romantic love. Instead, I found a wide variety of love poems from a grandfather to a grandmother, a father to a daughter, and even a student to a teacher.

Poet Pat Mora is a known Latina author; however, for the person reading this book of poetry by this poet for the first time, the “Note to the Reader” explains how she was raised bilingual Spanish and English. Otherwise, the first hint of Hispanic culture shows up in the poem “Mirrors” on page 15 with dialect and description of physical attributes: “Grandma makes me mad. ‘You’re beautiful. Tan linda,’/when I’m studying my face, boring as old bread,/my wide waist,/‘Tan linda,’/my hard-to-hide hips,/my too-flat chest,/my eyes that won’t open wide/and round like my sister’s,/that hypnotize guys. ‘Tan linda.’ What does Grandma see?”

Another Hispanic cultural indicator is the use of the word Papi in place of Daddy as found on page 29 in the poem “Valentine to Papi.” I noticed that unlike other Spanish words in the book of poetry, the Spanish word Papi is not italicized – a sure sign that another language is being used. “Remember, Papi, ten years ago? You smiled when you saw me wearing a new yellow dress.”

There aren’t any cultural markers in the poem “Opposites;” however, I enjoyed this poem so much. It reminded me that while my husband of 21 years can drive me up the wall with the things that are different between us, I love him because of our opposites. The ending sums it all up: “I confess I’m amazed to be so spellbound/on our wacky opposites merry-go-round.”

My favorite poem was “Oda a las maestras” on page 155. When I noticed it was 100% written in Spanish, I made a bee line to the high school Spanish teacher at the school I work at. My Spanish fundamentals go no farther than what I learned from watching Sesame Street when my son was a toddler. Kuddos to Mrs. Ashli Kottwitz at Mount Juliet Christian Academy for reading this poem aloud for me. If you don’t know Spanish, I recommend you find someone who does. Hearing the poem in Spanish brought a whole new breadth to the dialect and helped me to appreciate the identification of the Hispanic culture.

Reviews

• Booklist (2009): “Mora writes in free verse, as well as a wide variety of classic poetic forms including haiku, clerihew, sonnet, cinquain, and blank verse and for each form, there is an unobtrusive explanatory note on the facing page. The tight structures intensify the strong feelings in the poems, which teens will enjoy reading on their own or hearing aloud in the classroom.”
• Kirkus (2009): “The author employs an extraordinary diversity of poetic forms, from blank verse to a tanka, a cinquain to an anaphora, a haiku to a triolet and more, short notations adding a learning component for budding poets. The poems are complemented by abstract designs, the circles, rectangles and other geometric shapes repeating pleasingly. A must read for lovestruck teens, whether they're poets or not.”

Awards

• 2011 Americas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, commended title
• 2010 Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Award, honor

Connections

• Don’t know Spanish? Have someone who does read the poem “Oda a las maestras” out loud for you.
• Learn more about the poet and author Pat Mora at her website: http://www.patmora.com/
• Have students focus on one form of poem that Pat Mora selected in her book Dizzy In Your Eyes; i.e. Tercet, List, Dialogue, etc. Have students create their own poetry in one of these forms.
• Compare Dizzy In Your Eyes with Mora’s other book of poetry for young adults, My Own True Name.

Bibliography

Cover, Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Personal photograph by Amy Wilson. October 1, 2017.

Mora, Pat. Dizzy In Your Eyes: Poems About Love. New York: NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. ISBN 9780375843754