Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Something About America

Something About America
by Maria Testa (2005)

            Maria Testa's poetry in this book, which reads much like prose with a defined sense of rhythm, explores so many different issues:  finding home in a foreign land, what it means to be American, the relationships between parents and children, the realities of war, and so many others. The simple language choice nicely reflects how the 14-year-old narrator might write to herself, but the way the stanzas are composed and the way the words combine make her voice come alive. The girl writing the poems feels she is fully American, yet the scars that cover her body up to her chin make it hard for her parents to forget their home in Yugoslavia, especially after 9/11 when neighboring communities want to run immigrants out. But the girl wants her parents to make themselves welcome, and her new motto is "If you can't find the welcome mat when you arrive, put one out yourself."
            This book covers the complex relationship between parents and children, especially in immigrant families where being American sometimes seems like leaving the past behind and forgetting where you came from. A similar contradiction -- trying to live a life that is not too American and not too foreign -- is also found in An Na's A Step From Heaven. I have chosen to include both texts in my text set about modern immigrant families. Something About America is also short enough that it would make a good read aloud, with either the instructor doing the reading or students practicing reading free verse poetry.

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