A widely published poet, fiction writer, and critic, Semansky teaches literature and writing at Portland Community College. In the following essay Semansky examines Cruz's poem "Business" in relation to the other poems which accompany it and in relation to the poem's speaker, Don Arturo.
Victor Hernandez Cruz's poem "Business" is the third poem in a suite of poems in his collection entitled Mainland. The other poems in the suite are "Atmosphere," "Love," "Memory," and "Music." All of these poems are both descriptive and didactic, that is, they both portray and instruct. This makes sense for a book which takes as its theme life in the United States from the perspective of someone who was born on the small island of Puerto Rico. As a group, then, these poems can be seen as a.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 1,452 words. This
study guide contains 6,729 words (approx. 22 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our Business Access Pass.
