Fast Speaking Women/ From Borderlands La Frontera

In Fast Speaking Woman, Anne Waldman’s chant is describing various types of women including her and the ways in which they find their real selves.  Self identity is a very empowering word for women, it can be viewed as women’s influence in society. She begins by listing chants naming all the kind of women there is to be. She speaks to “everywoman” as she states in her poem. The use of “I” in her poem does not mean she only speaks about herself but rather that her chants come from past experiences she faces throughout her life which makes her connect even closer to other women.

In Borderlands La Frontera, Gloria Anzaldua begins by describing how her poetry writing all began. She starts off by mentioning her nightly story telling to her little sister Hilda who threatened to tell her mom if she didn’t. “It must have been then that working with images and writing became connected to night” (184). Throughout her writing she focuses on ones identity and how difficult it can be to find it in each one. Something interesting about this poem was the idea that she included her Mexican American roots. She explained how finding herself was hard because she didn’t want to lose her roots and where she came from. This is something many can relate to when coming to a new country and trying to adjust to that place but never lose their self identity, as she speaks of her different life experiences.

Both of these readings focus on women and this idea of self-identity. Waldman and Anzaldua introduced their own past life experiences to create a sence of togetherness with all women. As we live in a world where society impose that women are subordinated to men, these two authors encourage women to self identify each one in order to be acknowledged as what they are worth. Who am I is a question asked by many but difficult to answer.