“I am” POEM

I am the three colors of my flag,

bloody red, shining white, and river blue.
Bloody red for the thousands of kids that died fighting for Paraguay in the Acosta ñu
battle
Shining white for the extravagant breathtaking lapachos that blossom in the month
of August
And river blue for the famously strong and brutal waters of Rio Paraguay and Rio
Parana.

I am the smell of soyo on a cold winter day,

the inner warmness you feel as the hot soup flows down your throat and rests easily
in your stomach.
I am the taste of home in a piece of chipa guazu that fills your mouth with the flavor
of soft corn and melted cheese.
I am the sense of comfort you find with each bite of a mouth-watering tortilla, the
feeling of not even being able to resist a bite of that delicious mix of cheese and
flour even when it pains all your taste buds.

I am the drops of hot sweat traveling down your spine as the temperature rises every
single day after Christmas break, the smell of fresh-cut grass and the herbs of terere
in the air.
I am the brunfelsia pauciflora blossoming on every speck of land possible, its vivid
lavender colors pulling you in for a whiff of heaven.
I am the teeth chattering cold that makes goosebumps appear in every single cell of
your body, the cold that makes hot sweet chocolate and a big old dusty fireplace a
necessity.
I am the inviting smell of fresh baked cinnamon cookies that invade my nostrils
when I step into my grandma’s kitchen.

I am the long slow motion weekends filled with laughter, friends, and family in the
beautiful city of San bernardino.
The city that never sleeps,
days filled with diverse activities from water skiing to horseback riding at Club
Centenario and nights that long for crazy adventures that you will never forget with
your oldest friends.
I am the colorful and thunderous festivities filled with classical music, dancing, and
traditional games at the Folklore festival.
I am the bull on fire that chases kids around the carnaval as they laugh and hide
behind their parents legs.
I am the traditional food that is only made in San Juan, the food that is so good that
you can’t stop thinking about it all year and then eat as much as you can until you
feel like you are going to explode.
I am the traditional saints you pray to when you are in desperate need, one for good
luck, one for safety, and of course one for love.
I am the never ending bittersweet Sunday lunches with all my cousins, aunts, uncles,
and grandparents.
I am the love and joy I feel creep through my body every time I think about home.

But I also am the cold lonely winter nights after graduation.

The sensation of knowing that in just a few days all of my friends will be gone to
college thousands of kilometers away.
The fear of distancing ourselves from each other,
the fear of nothing ever being the same.

QUESTIONS
1. I feel good about
● I feel good about the message behind my poem, the story I tell. I think this
gives someone who doesn’t know anything about Paraguay a pretty good
idea of how it is and how it feels to live there, all the joyful memories I made
there.
2. I’m not totally sure about
● How I ended my poem, I really liked the last phrase I wrote as a conclusion
but I keep thinking about what Dr.Said said in class about how it always fall
apart at the end.
3. My specific questions for Dr.Said are
● Do you think I should make my poem longer or will it feel like it is too
repetitive already?
● Do you think the order I placed the objects I’m describing in my poem make
sense? (I picked this order because I thought it would flow better)
4. I think she’ll say
● That she likes how descriptive I was in the poem but maybe I should make it a
little bit longer?
➔ I was afraid that if I made it longer it would lower the quality of my
poem.

Reflection questions
1. What did you learn about your own identity when writing this poem?
● I learned how much of my identity and the person I am today was shaped by
my country, my country’s tradition, and my country’s way of thinking. I also
think it is important to say that not only did my country shape me into the
person I am today but the people from my country (friends and family).
2. What did you learn about other’s identities when hearing them read aloud in
class?
 ● I learned a lot about them as a person, their childhoods, how theirs lives were
so similar yet so different to mine at the same time. When I say this I am
referring to how maybe the traditional food in their countries are different from
mine but thinking and writing about their traditional foods brings them the
same joy and homesickness I feel when writing about Paraguay's traditional
foods.
3. What factors shape our identity?
● I think our identity is shaped by nature and nurture. Nature is what we are
genetically born with (the traits you inherit from your parents or other family
members) and nurture is the way the environment you were raised in affects
the person you are.
4. Are identities static or malleable?
● I think some parts of our identities are static and some are malleable. I say this
because I believe most of my identity is static, I am already grown up and I
don’t think I can change completely but at the same time I do believe by
being here at TCU some parts of me can change. I say this because I am in a
very different environment with very different people which after four years
could have a big influence on my identity.
5. How could this assignment help you in the business world? In what specific
scenarios could you apply lessons from this assignment?
● I think this assignment could help me in the business world because it not
only taught me how to be descriptive and use sensory images, it also made
me realize it’s importance. There is a huge difference in telling someone
something and showing them via details.
● I think a specific scenario in which I could apply the lessons I learned from this
assignment would be If I had to pitch an idea or product to a person or a
company. By using sensory images and descriptive language it will be a lot
easier to sell them my idea because it would be a more persuasive and
interesting presentation than if I just gave facts on the product.
6. What reflection questions can you create?
● How do you think you would be different if you weren’t born in Paraguay?
● What part of your identity and personality do you think would change?
● How much do you think someone's environment affects their identity?
● Is it more nature or nurture?