Pat Mora La Migra - Emmigration - Jenna Pelosi

Pat Mora La Migra – Emigration - pg. 546 – 547
This poem takes you to the time and place of people who have had to suffer though emigration and the border authorities. They place the poem in the theme of a game, where each speaker either plays an authority figure, or the Mexican. The beauty in the poem is that the speaker is able to relate you to both sides of the story. In the first part you picture a Mexican coming into contact with the border authorities and is not able to compete against their strengths. Then the speaker switches the mood, and presents a scene where the Mexican’s out-power the authorities because of their ability to know the desert and the language of their world. This poem offers wisdom to the reader, almost conveying the message that there are two sides to every story, up’s and down’s to each situation. It also emphasized the power of knowledge against the weaknesses that a gun and handcuff’s can carry, in the second part of the poem. “All you have is heavy; hat, glasses, badge, shoes, gun…I know this desert,….you hear us singing and dancing in the wind…” (pg. 546). Although their resources may not be as efficient, their knowledge of their land trumps the authority’s standpoint.