Title

The full title of the poem is "The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica." "Ars Poetica" translates into "the art of poetry," which is the title of a poetical treatise by the Roman poet Horace (65-8 B.C.) and of a poem by Archibald MacLeish (1926). In Ortiz Cofer's poem the "art of poetry" could be interpreted in different ways. The deli itself could be like a poem to the customers, as it provides them with meaning in their lives. Since the poem is the first piece of writing in The Latin Deli, Ortiz Cofer could also be suggesting that through her poems and stories that center on the lives of Spanish immigrants, she offers comfort and a sense of identity to others who share her heritage.

Lines 1-7

In these lines Ortiz Cofer introduces the poem's main character, whom she calls "the Patroness of Exiles"—what Ortiz Cofer...