Internal Structure

Sonrisas
Pat Mora

I live in a doorwaybetween two rooms. I hearquiet clicks, cups of blackcoffee, click, click like factsbudgets, tenure, curriculum,from careful women in crisp beigesuits, quick beige smilesthat seldom sneak into their eyes.I peekin the other room señorasin faded dresses stir sweetmilk coffee, laughter whirlswith steam from fresh tamalessh, sh, mucho ruido,*they scold one another,press their lips, trap smilesin their dark, Mexican eyes.

The most significant piece of the structure here is the poem seemingly being cut in half. In the first half, the reader sees the sort of reserved, more serious side of some women, and in the other half sees the lighter side of other women. What caught my eye was that in the first half Mora says that the smiles "seldom sneak into their eyes" and in the second half says that they trap smiles "in their, dark, Mexican eyes". Why does he distinguish the ethnicity in the second half. I think he uses the contrasting stanzas to show that the second stanza is the Mexican way. He highlights that they are indeed Mexican, and mentions their laughter and "milk coffee". Even the coffee offers a contrast to the "black coffee" of the first stanza.