(Photo courtesy of John Olivares website and Lucero Arechiga)
The poems by John Olivares Espinoza in The Wind Shifts are geared for the hard working class of Mexican Americans. They explore different life situations that deal with the struggles and/or hard work of the Mexican American community. Each poem tells a different story but they all relate to the Chicano heritage of working to support themselves or the struggles they endure to live. Also, these poems are a mirror into John’s personal life.
In his poem “Aching Knees in Palm Springs,” it shows two working people pulling weeds all day. John is one of those two people pulling weeds and they are working with their dad. Their father owns a landscaping business and they are always on the knees working. These two boys always work with their father and you can see the hard work in them. Some quotes show how long and tiring it was to work the yard; “At the eight hour of kneeling. The weight on my knees was too much for me. For each fistful of grass, I stood up to stretch.” John continues on to talk about how this line of work doesn’t compare to the people who make much more money. His father goes on to tell him that “it’s the only way to put you through school-this oily sweat.” This is very intriguing because this is his father’s only way to support his family. He uses this to help his son finish school so he can make a better life for himself.
In “Contemporary American Hunger,” you see a different struggle. Money is an issue and John tells it right away in his first sentence; “We were the newest broke Mexicans to settle in Indio.” The poem goes on to portray John’s poor situation at a McDonalds. His second stanza shows his mother’s lack of money when she pulls out “two dull quarters, six dimes, five nickels, and three parking lot pennies.” She could only afford two cheeseburgers and she ended up saving the leftovers for later. John paints a great picture of him and his brother playing. He compares his situation to other kids playing in the ball pin. He writes “their stomachs full of Big Macs or Happy Meals.” Right after he doesn’t seem too distraught by thinking about how full they are. Rather, he says they are “happy too-better than staying at home on a Saturday eating potato tacos.” He is a kid. He doesn’t really have to worry about their situations. However, his mother does and you can see it when he writes “I only remember her fingers neatly wrapping the remaining half.”
In “I Go Dreaming, Raking Leaves,” you see how much his work at the landscaping business has effect him six years after he has held a rake. John dreams of raking an endless pile of leaves. It is engraved in his soul. Working with his father at a young boy shaped how he was and the hard work makes him dream, after six years, about leaves. “It’s been six years…and still I’m raking leaves during my sleep.” That quote says it all.
There are other poems that explore his life experiences growing up. In an interview with the Delkalb Public Library, John states a few reasons why his poems reflect who he is. John worked with his father at his landscaping business and he worked every Saturday while the other kids in school slept in and watched tv, John worked all day with his father. John says, “I’m glad I wasn’t those kids who stayed home on a Saturday watching cartoons—what would I write about?” This part of his life is an important piece to his poetry. Reading his poems, I see a side of John that shows him working really hard.
Another reason is that John wants people see the Latino side of his life. As a minority poet, John states that “it is about capturing and documenting that said minority’s experience living in America today.” I think this is very important for literature. People do need to see the inside of the Latino Culture. Latinos are a growing population but people rarely understand these people. Reading this poetry brings in a side to the Latino community that many people do not get the chance to see. These poems catch what John wants for his works. He does a great job in introducing his experience with his culture.
Overall, I felt a personal connection to John Espinoza’s poetry. While reading his works, I was seeing a mirror to my own life. His poem “ Las Cucarachas,” connected to my own experience with roaches down in south Texas. “Contemporary American Hunger,” was a mirror to my own experience where I had to pay for things in change. I remember seeing my mother pay for a gallon of milk with nothing but pennies. I remember paying for gas in nickels and dimes. Not to say that I was embarrassed about the situations, but I knew that we were living in rough times. John’s experience of working with his father at his landscaping business made a mirror for me. I remember as a young boy, having worked every Saturday doing something around the house. My dad used to wake me up and I would dread coming out of bed. I had to work though and I remember cutting grass, raking leaves, cleaning the garage, cleaning the house, and fixing things around the house. Without this experience, how could I live alone if I couldn’t take care of myself? These are a part of me and this connects with John’s poetry, as his experiences and poetry are a part of him.
