Read the passage from “Child of the Americas.” I am Caribeña, island grown. Spanish is in my flesh, ripples from my tongue, lodges in my hips: the language of garlic and mangoes, the singing in my poetry, the flying gestures of my hands. The words “garlic and mangoes” in this passage are

“Garlic and mangoes” are concrete, familiar foods that appeal to the senses, especially taste and smell. In the passage, they help describe the speaker’s Spanish and Caribbean identity, alongside references to her poetry and gestures. They are sensory images illustrating the speaker’s island heritage, not allusions to a poem or an unknown culture.

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