Cisneros Sample Poems and Analysis
In “Fishing Calamari by Moon,”
Sandra Cisneros expresses sympathy with the destined loser by symbolically
portraying calamari as the underdog. While fishing on the Greek sea with
her friend Andoni, they catch a squid and Cisneros discovers how pitifully
the creature dies so that it can be eaten for lunch tomorrow. She relates
this experience to going to the bullfights as a child and cheering for the
bull despite the fact that it will probably lose. Her sympathy and pain for
both the calamari and the bulls is apparent in the following lines: “But
tonight my heart/ goes out to the survivors,/ to the ones who get away./ To
all the underdogs everywhere,/ bravo, Andoni. Ole.” In this quote,
Cisneros presents the calamari as the classic underdog, since once the hook
is in its mouth, it is destined to perish. Thus the squid becomes a symbol
of the underdog, just like the bulls who are killed for sport in the
bullfights. “The ones who get away” are the calamari they are presently
attempting to catch. The word “ole” momentarily takes Cisneros and the
reader back to her childhood devastation about the bull’s loss during a
bullfight. as she is responsible for the loss of the underdog. As the poet
creates a complex relationship between herself, the calamari, and the bulls,
she emphasizes the power that humans can have over animals and how we
unthinkingly use that power.
from My Wicked Wicked Ways
Fishing Calamari by Moon
for A. Stavron
At the bullfights as a child
I always cheered for the bull,
that underdog of underdogs,
destined to lose, and I tell you
this, Andoni, so you'll understand,
though we are miles from bullrings.
The Greek moon a lovely thing
to look at above our boat.
We are an international crew tonight.
Greek sea, African Queen, you, me.
But I am sad. Probably the only
foolish fisherman to cry
because we've caught a calamari.
You didn't tell me how
their skins turn black
as sorrow. how they suck the air
in dying, a single terrifying cry
terrible as tin.
You will cook it in oil.
You will slice it and serve it
for our lunch tomorrow.
Endaxi--okay.
But tonight my heart
goes out to the survivors,
to the ones who get away.
To all the underdogs everywhere,
bravo, Andoni. Ole.
