In this week’s Poetry Club we discussed Black Out and Patchwork Poems. The poems we read together were “How to be a Ghost on Earth” and “Nopal En El Frente” by Karla Cordero. We talked about the Author’s use of blacking out another Authors work and how she uses patchwork poetry in her poems. Poets were new to both these concepts and even though they were intrigued and also confused by the style, they were open to the blacking out exercise and were quick in writing their own patchwork poem.
Nopal En El Frente (Rewritten) by
Kimberly S., 10th Grade
cactus forehead
cacti tower
blushing of horizons
spines puncture
vultures
spanish belongs in my blood
en el nombre del padre, el hijo, y el espiritu santo.
Gringa written by
Lidia A., 12th Grade
A gringa is a white girl that tries to speak spanish
but can’t because she sounds so American.
A gringa is also what my mother started calling me
when my spanish started to fade away.
I was called “a gringa con el nopal en la frente.”