Hammerhead

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: It’s actually another term for hamerkop; a brown African marshbird related to the storks, which has a crest that looks like a backward projection of the head, and constructs an enormous nest

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

Found in ” Choi Jeong Min “, line 4

I looked it up because I was sure that it had nothing to do with the hammerhead shark and wanted to clarify what it is.

Default

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition 1: failure to fulfill an obligation

Definition 2: a preselected option adopted by a computer program or other mechanism when no alternative is specified by the user or programmer

Definition 3: something that is usual of standard

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

Found in ” Poet Franny Choi pictures a world without police “, line 14

Chosen because I wanted to know what a ” default human ” was.

Reclamation

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition 1: The process of claiming something back or of reasserting a right

Definition 2: The recovery of useful substances from waste products

Sources: Both Oxford Dictionaries and Collins Dictionary

Found in ” My mother tells me to fix my hair “, line 24

Chosen because I plain and simply didn’t know the word before now.

Spiraling

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: In the context of this poem I believe the speaker to talking about downward spiral; which is a situation that gets worse because of bad events.

Source: Cambridge Dictionary

Found in ” My mother tells me to fix my hair “, line 8-9

Chosen because I want people to understand it’s context within the poem.

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: A distant view through or along an avenue or opening

Source: Merrian-Webster

Found in: All American Girl (Line 27)

Meaning in Context: “I couldn’t keep the southern continent / out of the northern vista of my eyes, / or cut my cara off to spite my face.” It is trying to convey that she couldn’t forget where she came from. She is not literally looking at the continent but she sees it in her mind while looking forward towards the future.

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: A gap in one’s memory.

Source: Merrian-Webster

Found in: My mother tells me to fix my hair (line 12)

Meaning in Context: “but what they / mean is we’re the best at swallowing amnesia, in a cup of / [Spanish], dreaming because we’d rather do that than live in this reality…” I believe what the speaker is saying is that they would rather forget and live in a dream than face truth. One cannot physically swallow amnesia but it trying to convey that it is a willing forgetfulness.

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition:  Korean dish similar to a Western stew. There are many varieties; it is typically made with meat, seafood or vegetables in a broth seasoned with gochujang, doenjang, ganjang or saeujeot.

Source: Wikipedia (I know it is not 100% credible but since it is a foreign word I lack a proper source.)

Found in: Choi Jeong Min (line 27)

Meaning in Context: “My korean name / is the star my mother cooks into the jjigae / to follow home when I am lost” Her name is not literally cooked into this stew but it is referencing that her culture, her name, is being remembered when this stew is made.

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: a fictitious name

Source: Merrian-Webster

Found in: Choi Jeong Min (line 22)

Meaning in Context: ” Grace is not / her pseudonym, though everyone in my family is a poet.” This is saying grace is not a pen name that a poet or writer would usually use, it is her real name. But in reading the poem it is clear that it IS a fake name made by her mother to hide her  Korean origins.

Part of Speech: verb

Definition: to open or part widely

Source: Merrian-Webster

Found in: Field Trip to the Museum of Human History (line 7)

Meaning in Context: “we shuffled in the dim light / and gaped at the secrets buried / in clay, reborn as warning signs.” In this context I believe it’s referring to their mouths being open in shock or surprise at what they are seeing. It adds to the story that they are surprised to see such things meaning they are not common in their current civilization.

Verb

Definition: To seek favors from (a person) in an obsequious manner; fawn over

Source: Dictionary.com

Found in All American Girl by Julia Alvarez , Stanza 2  Line 4

Knowing the definition of brown nosing helped me understand how she felt about the American culture and how she wanted to be apart of it so bad, even though no one in a sense is all American. The speaker fawned over the thought of it, but she felt her culture seeping through and I personally believe that is what made the speaker more American, because America is mixed with all different cultures and the different people make the country and the culture.