Tension_In__“Kearney_Park_“_By_Gary_Soto

Tension In “Kearney Park“ By Gary Soto Without tension in any literary work there is no complexity, no possibility of resolution, and therefore, no interest. Tension between opposites, desires and outcomes, differing perceptions, and the metaphorical change from one psychological stage to the next, all create strife. In his poem, “Kearney Park,” Gary Soto draws the interest of the reader and forces him or her to question and interpret through various levels of tension, using juxtaposition of contrasting words and images. This tension and resolutions makes for a very engaging, complex, and, at times, an ambiguous meaning. Tension is implied by the very first words of the poem, “True Mexican”(1), because it leads the reader to the corresponding question, “what makes a true Mexican'” Soto’s words imply that there is a difference between true Mexicans and those who are not, but they also cast that difference aside, telling the reader, “True Mexicans or not, let’s open our shirts / And dance”(1-2). These words are command the reader. Words such as“[c]hipping”(3), “turning”(4), “wheezing”(6), “rising and falling”(7), “falling”(12), “clapping”(20), “shouting”(21), “[l]aughing”(22), make one almost want to jump up and join them. There is always tension in a poem that has a call to action tension, one, words, between, speaker, reader, poem, part, true, while, very, difference, dancers, call, way, using, uniformity, through, soto’s, soto, sees, sea, rising, resolution, question, people, opposites, mexicans, mexican, makes, make, let’s, interest, images, great