Analysis Of 'La Migra' By Pat Mora

“Poems differ as much as the people who write and read them, or as much as music and movies do” (Mays 846). Poems are the most difficult form of writing to analyze because they can be interpreted differently. Poems are composed of figurative language. Many times poems can be overanalyzed or not analyzed enough which could lead one to obtain an idea out of the poem that the writer never intended to provide.
The sonnet “The Facebook Sonnet” is a poem that talks about the role of social media in our lives. Social Media, Facebook, has become a major part of our life to go through the memories. People today are “stuck in the past.” Although the poem is not entirely made up of rhymes it does have a few such as the couplet. “Let’s sign up, sign in,

and confess/ Here at the altar of loneliness” (Alexie 1100). On March 2015 there were about 936 million people who used Facebook on a daily basis. The poem also shows a distinct structure than other poems. It is a Shakespearian sonnet so it has a certain rhyming scheme. The purpose of the poem is to demonstrate of how some people are hooked on the past that they refuse to acknowledge the present. People seem to value the past more that the present and possibly the future. People seem to be forgetting that there is a world outside of their computer screen. The poem contained many forms of figurative language, such as personification. “Let fame/ And shame intertwine” (Alexie 1100). The lines are trying to imply that fame and shame go hand-in-hand. For instance, in Facebook many people want to become famous and do outrageous things to gain it. Another form of figurative language is hyperbole. “Welcome to the endless high-school/ Reunion” (Alexie 1100). The poem demonstrates a tone of disappointment. He seems to be disappointed in the way that technology has completely taken over our lives.
The poem “La Migra” is a poem by Pat Mora that talks about immigration along the Mexican and US border.

The poem appears to display a free verse. The poem has an interesting way of showing the point of view of the protagonists. The poem is made up of two stanzas, and each stanza has a different point of view. The first stanza is written in the perspective of the Border Patrol and the second stanza shows the perspective of the Mexican women. The first stanza is the Border Patrol talking about the advantage they have over her. “I get the badge and sunglasses./ You can hide and run,/ but you can’t get away/ because I have a jeep” (Mora 1216). The Border Patrol agent thinks he has an advantage because he has the resources to stop the woman and she has nothing to fight back. He is implying that she can run and hide, but in the end he will find her because in his perspective he thinks he has an advantage. The second stanza shows the perspective of the Mexican woman. “I know this desert,/ where to rest,/ where to drink” (Mora 1217). The woman thinks she has an advantage and although she does not have all the resources the border patrol has she knows how to survive. The border patrol agent is alone but she is in her land and knows her way around. The perspective of both the Border Patrol agent and the Mexican woman shows irony. Each think they have an advantage in the setting. The tone demonstrated in the poem is optimistic because both seemed to be confident. They are confident of their sources to survive.
Each poem has its own underlying meaning. The sonnet “The Facebook sonnet” is a poem that follows the structure of a Shakespearian sonnet. The poem showed a strong opposition towards social media. The poem “La Migra” is a poem about immigration along the border of Mexico and the US. It demonstrated that each had an advantage over each other. Both poems undertake an issue and try to give their perspective over the issue or at least tries to imply their

position.