The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to Be Bilingual

Limón’s identity as a Latinx female poet is essential in understanding her motivation for writing “The Contract Says...” The relationship between an author and their text has been the subject of much debate among literary critics for decades. However, for Limón, autobiographical concerns are at the center of her work. In a 2014 interview with Suzannah Windsor, journalist for Compose, Limón confesses, “most of my poems are autobiographical. The strange, twisty narrative of the inner voice, the voice underneath the voice, is always what fascinates me and keeps me writing” (Windsor, Suzannah. “An Interview with Poet Ada Limón.” Compose, 2014). Limón makes it very clear to her audience that her work must be considered in relation to her discrete identity categories and personal experiences in order to be fully understood.

Limón subscribes to a contemporary version of Confessional poetry: the American tradition of writing that emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s, discussing an author’s deeply personal experiences with trauma (“An Introduction to Confessional Poetry,” The Editors of the Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation). Confessional poetry dealt with vulnerable subject matter that had previously never been discussed in publication. Limón’s work exists alongside fellow female poets Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, both of whom used poetry to expose the most intimate and oftentimes frighteningly vulnerable versions of themselves. However, like most canonical female writers, both Sexton and Plath were white (see: Contextual Analysis). Limón is specifically concerned with her experiences as a woman of color in the publishing industry, bringing Confessional poetry into the contemporary moment through discussions of race.

Limón’s “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual” exposes the racial stereotypes lobbied against Mexican American authors like herself within the literary landscape. Limón comments that, despite outside assumptions, she didn’t grow up in a bilingual household:

I have always identified with Mexican culture, but like many of us, I am not only one thing. I’m many things […]

I’ve always felt a bit ashamed that I don’t speak Spanish. But, some of that shame is only because people have a perception of me that’s not always correct […] I’ve had this conversation a lot with people who are mixed race, especially in the poetry world, and I find it fascinating. It seems that in an attempt to encourage diversity and celebrate differences, there is still an overwhelming need for categorization (Windsor, Suzannah. “An Interview with Poet Ada Limón.” Compose, 2014).

The assumption that Limón is bilingual simply because of her Mexican American heritage is one of many stereotypes the poet interrogates in the poem. Limón feels a responsibility to accurately portray her experiences as a woman and as a Latinx person, offering an alternative perspective to common stereotypes and showing that diverse backgrounds are not a monolith, but rather, are extremely nuanced and unique to each individual. Limón’s “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual” is one of many poems that uses the poet’s personal experiences as a foundation to discuss complex societal issues.