One Today

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2013

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Unity in Diversity

The theme of unity amid diversity pervades the poem. This unity is established by multiple repetition of images of single (“one”) natural objects or phenomena, several times linked to the word “our.” This creates a link to the human world, strongly suggesting that the people of the US are also one singular unit. Examples include “One sun” (Line 1), “One light” (Line 5), “One ground. Our ground” (Line 27), “one wind—our breath” (Line 35), “One sky” (Line 47), “one sky, our sky” (Line 63), and “one moon” (Line 63). Some of this imagery of unity also contains images of diversity, as in “one light / breathing color into stained glass windows” (Lines 22-23) and “one moon / like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop / and every window of one country” (Lines 63-65).

These evocations of unity and oneness are often followed by a description, a kind of Whitmanesque list, of diverse things that feature prominently in American life as people go about their daily business. “One ground. Our ground” (Line 27), for example, is followed by a description of many different kinds of jobs where people work with their hands. After the “one wind” is metaphorically identified with “our breath” (Line 35), the speaker invites the reader to hear this breath in all the diverse sounds of the US. The unity in diversity is particularly noticeable in language. The unity is present in the fact that everyone greets people in a friendly manner, yet they speak many different languages, which represent the diversity of the US. The speaker is careful to point out that all these languages are spoken “without prejudice” (Line 46); in other words, all languages are accepted and acceptable in the United States.

The Immigrant Experience

Blanco finds a way to include his own experience as an immigrant in the poem, suggesting that it is part of the many-faceted whole that is the US. A common immigrant story is of a family coming to the US with very little but working hard, often in low-status, low-paying jobs, so that their children can prosper and enjoy the full benefits of being an American. Blanco first mentions this in Stanza 2, when he includes grocery-store cashiers in the list of people who are going off to their jobs in the morning. He then points out that his mother worked as a cashier in a grocery store for 20 years “so [he] could write this poem” (Line 15)—meaning that her efforts gave him the opportunity to succeed in their adopted country, the US. Blanco mentions his family again in Stanza 4, this time his father, whom he includes in a list of people who work with their hands. In this case, his father’s hands are worn with the toil of “cutting sugarcane” (Line 32) “so [his] brother and [he] could have books and shoes” (Line 35). This, too, is part of the story of how Blanco became a successful American. The final personal reference is in Stanza 6, in the list of the different languages in which people greet each other. The greeting “buenos días” (Line 43) is Spanish, and the poet adds that it is “the language [his] mother taught [him]” (Line 44) since they were Spanish speakers originally from Cuba who came to the United States after living in exile in Spain. Blanco later became proficient in English, the mastery of which has led him, as a poet, to this moment when he is honored by the highest office in the nation, a moment he alludes to in the phrase “as these words break from my lips” (Line 46). “My face, your face” (Line 7)—immigrant, nonimmigrant—they are all American faces.

Togetherness, Community, and Belonging

The theme of togetherness and community is implicit in the theme of unity in diversity. Everyone is different in their own way, but each person forms an integral part of a greater whole, which is the one nation of the United States. Everyone, no matter who they are or what they do for a living, has an equal place. Everyone belongs, whether it is “[m]y face, your face” or “millions of faces” (Line 7); “[a]ll of us [is] as vital as the one light we move through” (Line 16). Collaboration is one of the elements that creates this sense of belonging, whether it is in the small family unit or in the people one works with. School students work with their teachers; mothers supervise their children as the kids “slide into the day” (Line 26); teams of workers cooperate digging trenches, routing pipes and cables; and the office worker completes yet another report for their boss (and does it “on time” [Line 51]). Everyone does the work they are called to do. People also grieve together, offering prayers about tragic events that cannot be rationally explained, like the Sandy Hook shooting. The faces of important historical figures (“bronze statues” [Line 24]) and the presence of museums are expressions of the continuity of community—it has been built by a long process going back centuries.