Ortiz Cofer and Levins Morales express cultural identity through poetry. If we take examples from their poems, They either present themselves as a first-person speaker
Child of the Americas" by Aurora Levins Morales
<em>…”I speak English with passion: it’s the tongue of my consciousness,
</em>
<em>a flashing knife blade of crystal, my tool, my craft.
</em>
<em>I am Caribeña, island grown. Spanish is my flesh,..”
</em>
<em>Or a philosophical speaker
</em>
Judith Ortiz Cofer: "The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica"
<em>..”she is the Patroness of Exiles,
</em>
<em>a woman of no-age who was never pretty,
</em>
<em>who spends her days selling canned memories
</em>
<em>while listening to the Puerto Ricans complain
</em>
<em>that it would be cheaper to fly to San Juan
</em>
<em>than to buy a pound of Bustelo coffee here….”
</em>
<em>
</em>
The use of a free verse structure is present in their poems. Imagery describing food and language are widely used with a nostalgic poetic tone, that transports the readers to the most wonderful feelings and emotions using an assertive tone and allusions to their reality.
..”I speak English with passion: it’s the tongue of my consciousness,
a flashing knife blade of crystal, my tool, my craft…”.
<em>…”Mother and Child magnetized
</em>
<em>to the top of an ancient register,
</em>
<em>the heady mix of smells from the open bins
</em>
<em>of dried codfish, the green plantains
</em>
<em>hanging in stalks like votive offerings,
</em>
