Summary

Maria works on translating Abuela’s journal. Her journal entries are amusingly critical of everything from New York’s architecture to theater. The last page of the journal contains a quote from “Don Quixote” which reads, “I know who I am and who I may be if I choose.” Maria requests Mr. Golden’s help on her poetry, and he agrees to work with her. He tells her she has the gift of metaphor, and gifts her with a copy of Pablo Neruda’s poetry collection “Elementary Odes.” Maria wonders how she too may become a poet. By reading Neruda’s poetry about small an simple things, Maria realizes she can turn simple, everyday things into poetry, such as blue socks, artichokes, and broken things. She writes a poem about her father in...