#23 Week 11 "La Migra" by Pat Mora pg.647-648

Summary

A narrator is telling someone to play a game with her. In the first stanza the narrator explains a different side of a story of border patrol agents using their authority.  She explains that because they have guns and Jeeps and power, they can abuse Mexican women. Since they cannot speak Spanish they don’t answer questions and sexually abuse women because they have the strength to overpower them and have their way with them. The narrator describes it as a sort of cat-and mouse game the border patrol plays with Mexican Immigrants saying “Get ready, get set, run”. In the second stanza the narrator reverses roles and says that because the border patrol agents don’t know Spanish and the land on which their vehicles trot that they cannot find the Mexican immigrants easily and all they hear is immigrants laughing and teasing them in the breeze. The narrator teases the agents by saying “get ready” perhaps for the revenge of her people against the corrupt agents.

Reader Response      

That was depressing, Ms. Ramirez! It was dark and told the other sides of the story, so to speak, about Mexican immigrants who are miss treated by American officers of the law. The first stanza was easier to follow than the second stanza, I think. But after you re-read it the message becomes clear, the narrator wants her revenge. I think after reviewing it, it was a good poem with a strong message and a firm tone. It tried to play off of a child game, making what the agents do seem even more corrupt. It had a creepy vibe to it but I think it had good imagery, I imagined right away a lonely desert where no one can hear the cries of Mexican women being rapped. It was a very powerful poem, to say the least.