Ernest Mann Poem

Not many people can compare a taco to a poem, and make it work. However, the poet of “Valentine for Ernest Mann” ,Naomi Shihab Nye, can. She hints throughout her poem that we can find poems if we are able to recreate things in our life. This makes me think that the poet was trying to tell us that if we are able to reinvent things in our life for something else then, you will get something as rare as poems are in return.

The theme for “Valentine for Ernest Mann” was if you are capable of remaking something in our life for something else, then you will get something as rare as poems are in return. It says in the last stanza, “Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us we find poems.” This clearly states out that if we are able to recreate what are life gives us then we can find poems. In her poem, the things the man could have reinvented were the two skunks. If these two skunks were changed, then he could have got the girl. The girl could have been as rare as a poem.

The poet uses many figurative language in her poem, especially personification.

The poet wrote in stanza two, “Poems hide. In the bottom of your shoes, they are sleeping. They are the shadows drifting across our ceilings the moment before we wake up.” A poem hiding, sleeping in the bottom of your shoe, and drifting across our ceilings are all examples of personification. This was not the only example of figurative language that was used in the poem. In the first stanza it says, “You can’t order a poem like you order a taco.” This is an example of a metaphor because the poet compares a poem to a taco using the word

like.

The poet’s choice of words, diction, made the poem sound a bit humorous. I would say humorous because she uses the words: taco, skunks, and garage. These choice of words makes it humorous because when she compares a poem to a taco, you can’t take it seriously. Same thing when she tells us about how the man gave the girl two skunks. You couldn’t take that seriously because you wouldn’t think that was romantic, but more was a joke.

Overall, the poet gives us humorous examples of when they could have reinvented something for someone else, so they can get something in return. I can relate to this because I gave my friend a snack and they gave me one later in return. The effects of the poem that it had on its readers is that it makes us change our perspective on the things life gives us.