Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings

Poems 1 and 2 anticipate the author’s return to Cuba. In “The Faraway Gift,” the author receives news of a colt that will be her horse to train next summer. She compares the horse to an oracle and herself to a centaur. “Until Next Summer” describes the colt as a private treasure and a mystery that she compares to a growing interest in boys.

Poems 3 and 4 are about disappointment and loss. In “Out of Reach,” the author describes Cuba, the colt, and her future as out of reach as diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba fall apart. In “Some Things Should Never Change,” the family begins referring to Mami as Mom. The author describes her devastation at the loss of Abuelita and her great-grandmother as travel is tightened and a ban is put into place. She questions where American anger at Cuba originates.

“Why Do We Have to Move?” through “My Library Life” are a return to everyday life despite the new changes and growing cultural atmosphere of fear. In Poem 5, the author’s family moves once again and the author laments the changes in life.