Eduardo C. Corral

                Eduardo C. Corral was born and raised in Casa Grande, Arizona, and, surprisingly, grew up outside the influence of easy access to literature.  After attending Arizona State University, though, he discovered his love of writing poetry and eventually received his master’s degree from Iowa Writer’s Workshop.  While reading Corral’s poetry, it was very interesting to compare his overarching themes to ones that have been explored so far in Latino Literature class.  Besides including traditional themes, Corral’s work presents explorations into the question of identifying sexuality, as he is openly gay but grew up in a machismo community where this was ridiculed.  These poems by Corral in the anthology The Wind Shifts, then, can be appreciated by readers who want a glimpse of Latino lifestyle and history in both traditional and new ways because the poems explore borders, self-identity, and family values, mixed in with sexuality.

                 Borders are a prominent theme in Latino Literature, whether they are the psychological alienation experienced by those who must live within a society who doesn’t recognize them as equals, or the physical walls that exist on the U.S.-Mexican border.  In Corral’s poem To a Mojado Who Died Crossing the Desert, the tragedies that take place along the physical border in between the United States and Mexico are addressed.  This is an ode to a crosser who has died in the desert wilderness.  When reading this poem, though, the reader gets an eerie sensation that feels like forgotten death, or the desert calling out for more sacrifices: “the sand calls out for more footprints” (line 84).  The repetitive use of the word “hush” (lines 5, 12) and abstract similes like “a mouse can be torn open like an orange” (lines 10-11) contribute to this sensation of forlornness. 

            The title of this poem also reflects the border theme, as a “mojado,” the equivalent to “wetback according to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, is a person who crosses a border through a body of water.  It is interesting to look at whether this poem is celebrating or disapproving of what the desert is doing to the travelers who are dying on their way to the U.S.  Because of this ambiguity of meaning, it is difficult for the reader to determine what impression of borders the author is trying to create through this poem.  Is a border a natural part of life that should not be reckoned with? This poem poses the elusiveness of this idea. 

            A second overarching theme in Latino Literature is that of the search for self-identity.  The poem called Poem After Frida Kahlo’s Painting “TheBroken Column” reveals the process of Kahlo’s search for her own identity through painting self-portraits.  The poem is divided into twelve chapters of differing lengths: the longest is a full paragraph and the shortest is three words.  In a way, the chapters create separate borders in the poem itself!  This poem is also very abstract, and the images, again, give the reader a mysterious feeling when they read it.  The Broken Column, on which this poem is based, is a self-portrait done by Frida Kahlo.  Kahlo was the wife of Diego Rivera, a renowned Latino artist, but also faced much suffering throughout her life, beginning with the time when as a teenager she was involved in a car accident that cracked her spinal column in several places.  Her suffering from this accident can be seen in The Broken Column, which portrays her half-naked in a desert setting, her bare skin pierced with nails.  Corral’s usage of the color red throughout this poem gives the impression of these piercing nails, by using images like “a ruby ring on her finger,” (line seven) “I want to find the perfect shade of red,” (line twenty) and “an hourglass of blood” (line fifty-four). 

            Through writing this poem about Kahlo searching for self-identity, Corral is also suggesting his own search for self-identity.  Growing up as a Chicano in the United States and a gay man in a machismo culture has been especially difficult, as he said in an interview with the Web del Sol website.  With this knowledge, it is interesting to see if Corral’s poem about The Broken Column suggests an individual who has found an identity or who is still searching.  The final line “a mirror remembering water” (line 59) can be taken either way.

            A final literary theme that has been found throughout this class is that of the value of family and relationships, which, in Corral’s case, also relates to finding sexual identity.  The poem Ditat Deus is written in two chapters: the first in prose form and the second with poetic stanzas.  The second chapter discusses how his father taught him to love a man when he was a boy.  This is very interesting because it seems as if the father in the poem is only allowing his son to do activities that any son would do with his father, such as helping him shave in the morning and unlacing his work boots in the evening. 

            The first chapter looks at how the narrator must also learn to form relationships with the rest of society, namely the work world.  The narrator is working as a bag boy at a shopping center and is told by his boss to follow around Mexicans and Native Americans to make sure they don’t shoplift.  This is ironic as the title of the poem Ditat Deus is the state motto of Arizona, meaning “God enriches.”  Questioning trust in the narrator’s own ethnic identity, then, is another factor that plays into the search for how he forms relationships with both his family and the rest of society.         

            All in all, the poems of Eduardo C. Corral explore both traditional and new aspects of Latino culture.  Through looking at borders, self-identity, and family values mixed in with a search for sexuality, Corral’s poems are very rich for any reader who wants to experience a new type of American literature.