Beast Meridian - Reflection

Vanessa Villarreal brings light to multiple aspects that are disregarded for people of color. She is bright, creative, and is not afraid to tell us what she thinks. You see this show up quite a few times when she discusses certain things that happened in her life or around her and the impact it had, whether it be right there for some time later. The entire collection was a work of art. all connecting, all following or leading into one another, all demanding of full attention from us in terms of coming about the structure.

Villarreal often writes in a way where you hear the little voice in your head narrating it for you. "Oak Falls" was the one for me where it was as if someone was reading a timeline and just subtlety mentioned things to me. This piece highlights how others viewed her family and their way of living this American dream, making comments that they were "so impressed with the little house" or "we must be really making it." This portrays it as a "not good enough but you're doing okay!" kind of vibe that is not meant to degrade them, at least I hope not. This piece also ties into many others one where Villarreal talks about assimilation.

For those who are children of immigrant parents, you probably related to the piece on page 35 that speaks to what the daughter of an immigrant goes through and how she is looked at. "Nothing        an immigrant's daughter does intelligible…….nothing an immigrant's daughter does     is defensible...….first-generation          don't make it the last/you can be anything     in America   especially when you're made     an example." Although I did jump in between several lines, it is interesting to see that those included above most resonated with me and ironically serve as poem as well.

A couple times throughout her book, Villarreal brings up the line "Draw a line through our scattered bodies." I did not think much of it at first, of course I thought it was very intriguing, but I did so more when I saw it several other times as well. The poem "Praying Herd: For Safe Journey," was a short but resilient poem, I hope it does not go unnoticed. I loved the emphasis of everything one may say/pray to the moon for. Giving the moon the upper hand in it guiding our faith when everything else has seemed to fall. The moon serves as our carrier, because when the sun sets and the light is gone, here comes the bright light to guide us through the dark. Sing to the moon!