My Wicked Ways by Sandra Cisneros
This is my father.
See? He is young.
He looks like Errol Flynn.
He is wearing a hat
that tips over one eye,
a suit that fits him good,
and baggy pants.
He is alsoo waering
those awful shoes,
the two-toned ones
my mother hates.
Here is my mother.
She is not crying.
She cannotl ook into the lens
because the sun is bright.
The woman,
the one my father knows
is not here.
She does not come till later.
My momther will get very mad.
Her face will turn red
and she will throw one shoe.
My father will say nothing.
After a while everyone
will forget it.
Years and years will pass.
My mother will stop mentioning it.
This is me she is carrying.
I am a baby.
She does not know
I will turn out bad.
My Personal Response:
In this poem, Sandra Cisneros seems to be reflecting on the past. It seems that she is looking at a photograph of her family before things got bat. Although a photograph is never mentioned, I came to the conclusion that she was looking at one since she kept on saying “Here is my father.../Here is my mother...” The photograph symbolizes the good times and the happiness that the family once shared. The author now looking back at that same photograph points out details of her family. Perhaps more importantly, she says what eventually happens that makes her family fall apart. The author herself, turns out bad as the title suggests and the last lines “This is me she is carrying/ I am a baby? She does not know/ I will turn out bad.” I personally connected to this poem not only because I already like Sandra Cisneros as an author, but also because the poem was about families and the falling apart of them; I can personally relate to this. Just as the author looks at that particular photograph and says to herself This is before it all went bad, I oftentimes look at baby pictures of my family and I and say This is before my father left. In Sandra’s situation, what went wrong was her father finding another woman, while in mine it was my father leaving.
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