DIZZY IN YOUR EYES: POEMS ABOUT LOVE by Pat Mora

Mora, Pat. 2010. Dizzy In Your Eyes: Poems About Love. New York: Knopf. ISBN  9780375945656

Tuning in to thoughts of love on this Valentine’s Day, let me direct you to Pat Mora’s Dizzy in your Eyes, Poems About Love. This young adult collection offers 49 of Mora’s poems in a variety of forms including song, ode, lyric, blues, triolet, pantoum, and many others.  Most of the poems deal with young love and its ups and downs, but some also deal with love of family, love of self, and even heartbreak.  Pat Mora, an award winning author and poet of Latin heritage, incorporates her unique heritage by including a Spanish translation of “Ode to Teachers” called “Oda a las maestros.” When she uses a unique poetic form, she includes a definition and pronunciation of that form on the page opposite the poem.  I found this helpful and enhanced my focus on her artistic word play.  

Because of the universality of love, this is a sure winner for touching the heartstrings.  Mora writes with a spice rack of emotions and mood you would expect with love poems.  But whether with gravity or levity, Mora delivers the quality you would expect of her professional expertise. For example, in the following lyric poem, Mora’s imagery creates a fragrant experience and a sentiment that evokes a blush.

You’re Beautiful

       by Pat Mora

Like the green romance of a bud

 and lily’s pink, gentle sway.

You:  more beautiful than yesterday.

Wildflower’s blue surprise.

Daisy’s white, sunny play.

You’re more beautiful than yesterday.

Orchid’s purple mystery.

Mum’s bronze ole.’

You: more beautiful than yesterday.

Rose’s orange perfume,

Even tulip’s yellow secrets say:

You’re more beautiful than yesterday.

Poppy’s red, teasing lips,

But your beauty will never fade.

                  You.

 More lovely than yesterday.

                  You.

My dazzling bouquet.

It would be fun to pair this poem with a language of flowers dictionary to see if the “meanings” of the flowers match the poem.  This would also make a beautifully illustrated class book with the students providing the illustrations. You could use it further in the curriculum by adding a science and history twist by researching where these flowers are grown and also what events in history, if any, are associated with the flowers.  I am thinking of the tulips in Holland and the remembrance poppies in Britain.  You could even do a variation of “roses are red, violets are blue,” and see how many ways love can be expressed.

Aside from school, however, I recommend this:  

Dizzy in Your Eyes + a box of chocolate = win win.