Julio Noboa Planco Identity Essay

The poet’s message to the world is how we all live different lives with different privileges. As in Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco, Polanco sees two types of people; privileged and careful people yet also the straggly, “tall, ugly weed” of people.Polanco considers an in between with, “ I’d rather be unseen” mentioning as if he would rather be a mix of both or something different. Polanco expresses privilege, experiences and even self identity in a short poem that on the surface, is about flowers. One major theme of Identity is self gained and born privilege. Polanco mentions two main types of the flowers, the “sweet, fragrant lilac” and the “always watered, fed, guarded, admired”. The lilacs are described by their smell, referencing in real life the hardships they got through.Meaning for the good smelling lilacs, they had an easy life while the weeds have a ,”musty,green stench”. On the other hand, the guarded ones must mean the people who work their way up to being “flowers” because they are “guarded, admired but harnessed to a pot of dirt” This means that the guarded plants are also stuck to a certain way of life, as referenced by the “harnessed to a pot of dirt”.

Polanco mentions only the weeds having experiences, for example,”clinging on cliffs, like an eagle wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks”and to live, to feel exposed to the madness of the vast, eternal sky. To be swayed by the breezes of the ancient sea, carrying my soul, my seed, beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.” This quote is showing the amazing experiences and life changing events that could happen to a person/plant if you get out of your pot of