I am Joaquin is a free verse poem by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales about the struggle of "la raza" (the people of indigenous descent in Mexico) against the cultural invasion on their country. It is written in two very lengthy stanzas with lines of various length including a couple with just a single word.
I found this poem very inspiring, I could feel the speakers resolve and anger. The speaker recalls many occasions where the indigenous people fight against the people keeping them down. The martyrs, such as, "Los Ninos" who stayed behind after their general ordered a retreat to stay and fight and the last of the surviving member of the six men grabbed their countries flag, wrapped it around himself, and leapt off castle point to prevent it from entering enemy hands, and the defenders of the people, like, Joaquin Carrillo Murrieta who is called the Mexican/Chilean Robin Hood or the Robin Hood of El Dorado. It is hard for me to place whether he is in Mexico or in the United States when writing this, I see his descriptions of the 'whirl of a gringo society' and also his descriptions of Mexican society and am unable to decide which country he is speaking, I am leaning toward United States but truly this is just a feeling not a definitive knowing.
I can hear the speakers dislike about being "caught up in the whirl or a gringo society, confused by the rules and scorned by attitudes, suppressed by manipulation and destroyed by modern society" and yet if this is taking place in the United States I am not sure I can understand his dilemma about choosing between the victory of spirit or having a full stomach. I just have no understanding of having to make the choice and I think that this helped me see it differently than I had before. I had always believed that you can do both, and I think that you probably can in some instances but now I am aware that this is not always the case. This makes me feel that forcing that choice, of culture or acceptance, is unfair.
The passion in this piece is palpable, you can feel is indecision and yet he resolve to give in to this intrusion on his culture and history. It is heartening to listen to him start out seeming almost despondent and then find his mind being made up in the poem. You start hearing him lament about the choice and him struggling with the choice and then the speaker ends with his mind made up and his choice made, that he won't give up who he is for anything, and he will fight the fact that he is even being made to choose.
When he travels through the history settling into different times and as different people really effectively shows how not only that his culture is strong and always resists being beaten down but also shows that it deserves to be kept and respected. You feel yourself at the end of the poem feeling an affinity for him and his fight. This poem is very emotionally charged, it not only shows you the strength of people for their culture but why a people's culture deserves to be defended. No one should be forced to chose between their culture and having a full stomach.
-Aaron
