Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings

Part 5 represents the resolution and falling action of the narrative. The mood is thoughtful, with an atmosphere developed by poems that reflect on the conclusions the author can draw from her experiences. It is a short section, made up of only 14 poems, followed by a timeline of Cold War events and an Author’s Note that provide additional context and information to understand the memoir.

The first poems establish the healing atmosphere through allusions to earlier symbolism of the isolation and trauma that build throughout the story. “A Swirl of Changes” begins by noting that “[some] lost things can be brought back to life” (167), alluding to the metaphors that compare the author to a stray cat in “Strays” and her family to the discarded plants in “Revived” in Part 4 of the narrative. “Travel Plans” demonstrates that travel will be central to this process as they plan to visit Europe for a summer, a new normal that parallels the summers spent in Cuba as a child. This makes travel a key part of closure and healing in the author’s metaphorical journey, an important aspect of the Travel theme.

“Reality” and “My Own View of History” juxtapose the new reality of life at home, a reality that includes attempts to deflect the trauma of the Cuban Missile Crisis and forget about the island nation of Cuba. “My Own View of History” is the author’s answer to the American perspective of events. She records her own history, a narrative moment that continues to foreground acceptance and healing to represent narrative closure.

“Soaring” continues to create parallels between summers in Cuba and the upcoming summer trip to Europe, alluding to “Fluttering.” Both poems describe a bird’s-eye view of the landscape below. This allows the author to find similarities and differences between the two landscapes, another approach that establishes an atmosphere of acceptance rather than joy. The mood this evokes is content rather than the effusive anticipation of travel between America and Cuba in her youth.

Poems 6 and 7 continue developing this parallel. “Nomadic” alludes to earlier poems that establish travel as an ironic escape from the struggles of home, an allusion reinforced when she describes herself as “free to be / child-hearted again, filled with wonder” (174). This allusion continues to develop the Travel theme by describing reflections that clarify any misunderstandings of the symbolic significances in representations of travel, home, and Cuba earlier in the memoir. The author pairs this with “Cave Painting,” where the poem compares cave paintings in Spain to her poetry, moments of inspiration that she achieves as much through travel as Cuban culture. She begins to “understand / that each time [she scribbles] / a poem on [her] wall / [she] is not alone” (175). This creates an atmosphere of belonging alongside acceptance to support healing and closure through poetry as well travel.

The author follows this with multiple poems that include elements of pastoral imagery developed earlier in the text. These include “Imaginary Horses,” “Village Life,” and “Final Flames.” These poems intersperse this imagery with brief encounters with locals who ask questions like those the author asks in poems describing her childhood visits to Cuba, the dual imagery muting the pastoral atmosphere. The questions focus on American international relations with Spain, highlighting the struggles she experienced are like problems elsewhere in the world. This demonstrates the author’s maturity as she accepts these questions are unanswerable in “Unanswerable Questions.” The muted pastoral atmosphere and demonstrable maturity of the author’s reflections continue to develop a mood of contentment rather than joy that indicates acceptance.

The atmosphere of acceptance and mood of contentment are important to the conclusion of the memoir. “Hope” is a poem about the future. The author acknowledges that her future will be beautiful but concludes with the hope for “normal diplomatic relations” as well (185). The author accepts a reality where her future is not reliant upon the future of Cuban/American relations. At the same time she is hopeful this will occur. The author does not write a traditional happy ending. Instead, she describes acceptance and belonging.