To prepare this project there were many characters that I could choose but I chose Consuelo. She is a young Puerto Rican girl that narrates the whole story. Basically she is telling every detail of her life, things that happened to her or her family or her neighbors and things that were happening in the island. I chose Consuelo because she is the protagonist; she’s the one that expresses in the novel everything in her life like what is happening to her sister Mili because she was not as normal as everyone else, ”What did you do? I grabbed Mili’s hand and pride the knife away from her. Consuelito, I did it! Just like Abuelo does. I got the hen ready for dinner!” what kid will take a knife and kill a hen.
The problem her parents had, her father was always trying to change to American life and the mother wants to continue her normal Puerto Rican life, the father brings things like vacuum and the mother gave to the girl’s quenepas and caña de azucar. Also Angélica (Consuelo’s mom) thought that her husband (Carlos) had an affair with a woman that worked on the hotel he did “she wanted him out of the house, even if it meant that he was at the Golden Palms with that puta”. She also talks about her cousin Patricio that is her confident and how this boy travels to another country and how they use letters to keep in touch. She also talk about other people in her family and others that don’t form part of the family but that in some way were in her families gossips and in her life. Those that Consuelo talk about are: Tío Domingo, Abuelo, Abuela, Tía Divina, María Sereno, Marisa, Wilhelm, etc. She’s the most important character and the name of the novel supports this fact. She is in every page of the novel and as I already said she is the protagonist and the narrator of the novel. She is an essential character and without her in the novel the story would not make sense. These are the things of why I chose her to make my poems.
Consuelo
Who is mature, smart and thoughtful.
Who is the daughter of Angélica and Carlos.
Who loves reading and being with her cousin Patricio.
Who feels she has to find other ways to survive.
Who needs to watch over her sister.
Who gives us the narration of the story.
Who fears Néstor and never seeing her cousin Patricio again. Who would like to see a change in her life.
Resident of the Signe family
.
Consuelo is young
Living in a changing land
With a tragedia.
If I was a chameleon
I would live in the Golden Palms Lizard Hotel and Lounge
I would eat all the moscas that came to my house
And on my free time I would change my colors
form gold to brown, to blue and almost red
according to where I would stand.
She was three years younger than me
and was a voluptuous little thing
with curves where I had angles
and soft flesh where I had sharp bones.
She was as pretty as a flower and cuter
than a baby’s face;
she had a personal vocabulary and was always up in space.
She was spontaneous and creative. But we
never called her by her name
to everyone Milagros was Mili.
To me the little sister I had to take care
for as long as I could think.
She gave birth to me.
She drank a lot of coffee
and smoked cigarette
Angélica was her name
But I called her mom
She did her nails
And went to her mother’s house
Who married Carlos
and thought he had an affair
with a women
that worked on he’s same hotel
and although she has problems
she always took care of us
and gave us the love we need.
Patricio Signe
And in letters Patty Swan
With long eyelashes
And curly, short, black hair
Witch everyone thought
was a waist on a young boy
with independence
and an adventurous soul
Son of tío Domingo
And without a mom
Who hold me like a baby
And love the flowers
My cousin and confident
My sketcher of life
.
He was very strict
And loved American things
He liked modern piece
And drive to see new buildings
My father Carlos Signe
A mujeriego of life
Married to Angelica
But had another wife
To end that disgrace
Carlos and Angélica
Were going to move to another place
But with the tragedia
They could not find themselves
They looked as lost
as a blind person
and that made me feel bad
but this is the story of my dear old dad.
My heart broke like a piece of glass
Million pieces were spread through my body parts
He was a basketball player
That traveled a lot.
Wilhelm Lugar my first true love
Who had fingers as long as strings
And a voice as soft as the wind
Our eyes lock often
And people started to think if you and I were somebody
I fall in love with his dark brown skin
And his long limbs
To reach his lips I had to stand on my feet.
And when I was fifteen
I gave myself to him.
It was not what I expected to be
And now I see I wasn’t the women for him
I was betrayed
But I made him pay.
A tragedia was coming our way
And Mili was the protagonist of the play
it all started one day in our place
we saw she was talking by herself
But we thought it was something kids did on that age
She talked to the birds
Like they were persons
And made up words
Like if they were normal
She was always on her own
And loved to swing on and on
But all that change
When she went away
She was on the beach making some drawings
Suddenly we heard some screaming
Mili was gone
And would never return
That’s how I saw the tragedia went on and beyond.
If I was a cotorra puertorriqueña
I would live In el Yunque
I would eat colorful seeds
And on my free time I would talk to the tourists about the beautiful things of my enchanted island.
It was very difficult for me to realize this project but also very fun. I don’t think my poems look like poems but I tried to do my best. Every poem had its own unique style and story. Although it was hard, it let me express what I thought it was relevant about the novel. There are different characters in my poems because the one a chose (Consuelo) talked about all of them in the novel. These kind of projects are fascinating because they let show our creativity and also the unique and different styles we all have.
