La Migra Pat Mora

I read the poem “La Migra ” by Pat Mora. This poem is about two kids playing a game involving crossing the American border from Mexico. The poem started out playful as it was presented as a game and with childish language, but quickly turned into something more serious with the tone taken. One person played “La Migra” or the Border Patrol and the other played a Mexican maid/woman. The poem was split into two major parts and gave two totally different perspectives. When looking deeper into the message, the writer was trying to convey we can see that the border patrol was the United States and the Mexican woman was Mexico.

2. There are two speakers in the poem. The first stanza is from the Border Patrol’s point of view and the second stanza is from a Mexican woman. What I can tell about each speaker is that they are both confident that they possess the upper hand. “La Migra” has the badge, sunglasses, a jeep, and handcuffs and uses materialistic items as his strength. I can tell that he underestimated

and felt a sense of superiority over the woman by the way he spoke to her. “You can hide and run, / but you can’t get away” (5-6) and “don’t complain / too much because I’ve got / boots and kick - if I have to,” (Mora , 70013-15). The first speaker used fear and danger to discourage the woman, and also referred to her as a maid.
The second stanza shifts from the hunter to the hunted and is from the Mexican woman’s point of view. She has the approach that no matter what you have, I can outthink you, outwork you, and outsmart you, and you will not beat me. I felt the woman’s confidence from the get go in lines 21 and 22. “I’ll be the Mexican woman. Your jeep has a flat…” (Mora, 700 21-22). Instead of intimidating the Border Patrolman with power and manipulation, she instead uses her words to paint a picture. He is stranded out in the hot sun, so all of his tools of coercion become seemingly worthless. He does not speak even the most basic Spanish in order to understand something that could be used to save his life or survive in the desert. The last line in the second stanza, “Get ready, …” (Mora, 70018), shows that she was not backing down and that he is the one that should be prepared for what is coming.

3. The poem is organized into two stanzas that present both characters’ drastically different points of view. The poem is presented in dialogue format between the two speakers. In the first stanza, we see the expression of words for what Border Patrol has to keep the Mexican woman in check and in the second stanza we see confidence in how she can beat him at his own game. Each line was written in short sentences, which give an expression of dialogue between the two. The poem was written in a simplistic way that allows the reader to understand the true meaning of the poem and engage in the text. To me, the organization of the text made me think of the game, cops and robbers. The first stanza was from the cop’s perspective and the second stanza from the robbers. I believe that having the poem organized this way was effective because it was easy to follow and understand the message that the writer was trying to convey.

4. There are many instances of figurative language used in the poem. In the first stanza the Border patrol tells the girl “you You can hide and run, / but you can’t get away” (Mora, 700 5-6). This language relates the text to hide-and-seek or a childhood game and is used at various times throughout the poem in an attempt to remind the reader about the children playing a game within the poem. Although the poem is written in a way that makes it seem juvenile, it is also symbolic of immigration and the controversy of illegal immigration of Mexican citizens into the United States. There is irony in the poem in that the Border patrolman was rubbing it in the Mexican woman’s face that he didn’t speak Spanish and to not bother him with questions. In the second stanza when the border patrolman was alone and stuck in the hot desert, the Mexican woman tells him where to find water in order to survive. Since the man doesn’t speak Spanish, he does not understand.

5.

I feel that this poem was fairly straightforward and easy to understand. One part that I didn’t fully understand was lines 33 and 34, which were in Spanish. “Agua dulce brota aqui, / aqui, aqui” (Mora, 700 33-34). From the Spanish that I do know, I was able to understand the message as sweet water, here, here, here. I am not familiar with the word “brota,” but was still able to understand the meaning of the message. It was used as a way to stick it to the Border patrolman. In the first stanza he told her not to ask questions because “I don’t speak Spanish” (Mora, 700 11). It almost felt like he was rubbing it in her face and that he was above her native tongue. In the second stanza, she basically painted the picture that his tire was slashed, he was alone in the desert with heavy equipment, and uneducated in her native tongue. She tells him where water is, but since he does not understand the language, he is stuck without it alone in the

desert.