Tula ["Books are door shaped"]

Engle’s free-verse poem “Tula” is designated from her other poems with the same title by including the first line, “Books are door-shaped” (Line 1), in the title. All of Engle’s “Tula” poems in her book The Lightning Dreamer are written in the persona of Cuban abolitionist Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, whose nickname was Tula. There are six stanzas total, with many lines just one or two words long.

In the first stanza, the central metaphor, books as transportation devices, is established. Beyond their shared rectangular shape, both books and doors symbolize a gateway or “portal” (Line 2). This diction, along with the immense and impossible distances through which the portal offers passage, introduces the fantasy motif. “Oceans / and centuries” (Lines 4-5) can be crossed with the magical doors of books. Books, like the genre of the persona poem, offer insights into other people’s thoughts, which help Tula “feel / less alone” (Lines 6-7).

The second stanza introduces conflict between Tula and her mother. The latter thinks girls who love books are “unladylike” (Line 10) and unattractive. Pushing this gender norm onto her daughter is represented by Tula’s mother locking up the books in a cabinet.

The imprisoned books belonged to Tula’s father, who is mentioned in other poems in The Lightning Dreamer. In the poem titled “Tula [On lonely nights, I remember],” Tula recalls that her father allowed her to read “as much as she wanted” (Line 3). Only after his death does Tula’s mother lock up the books and enforce a gendered rule against reading (one that does not affect Tula’s brother).

Tula describes how she “gaze[s]” (Line 13) at the books, which are relegated to mere art objects. Her mother’s museum-like lock keeps Tula from “touch[ing]” (Line 17) the books, so their “covers” (Line 14) are like paintings. Words—titles and internal text—are “mysterious” (Line 15) and occult (i.e. unseen), respectively.

In the third stanza, Tula discusses what is “forbidden” (Line 23) to her, parsing types of books and thoughts. Reading any genre of writing—prose, poetry, or drama—is not permitted. According to her mother’s idea of gender norms, Tula and other girls should not be intellectual beings; they should not “think” (Line 24). Tula distinguishes between “free” (Line 26) and “trapped” (Line 29) thoughts; the former replaces the latter. These distinctions develop the theme of how femininity is constructed. Tula’s mother tries to trap her daughter in oppressive gender norms.

The fourth stanza develops the concept of free thoughts, connecting them with a fantasy motif. Tula “imagine[s]” (Line 30) tales from “faraway places” (Line 31), or fantasy lands. These places contain fantastic creatures like “[v]ampires” (Line 33), which appear in all the forbidden genres of books listed in the previous stanza. Echoing how free thoughts “replace” (Line 27) trapped ones, Tula’s fantasy “moves into” (Line 35) her “lonely confusion” (Line 37). Both the third and fourth stanzas include a three-part list (of genres and supernatural creatures, respectively) and conclude with a replacement, or reimagining.

In the fifth stanza, Tula’s concept of a book expands. Books remain “door-shaped” (Line 41) but can also exist in the mind as intangible stories. The idea that books are containers for stories—like the “mind” (Line 39)—rather than simple art objects locked in a cabinet, privileges their function over their tangible form. Tula creates her own stories with “villains” (Line 43) and “heroes” (Line 44) in her head when she lacks access to physical books written by other people.

The sixth and final stanza expands the types of heroes Tula envisions. Refuting her mother’s constructions of femininity, Tula describes how, like boys and men, girls can be heroic. The girls her mother would call “ugly” (Line 11) because they are intellectual, Tula recasts as “tall” and “strong” (Lines 47-48) heroes. Tula argues that these positive characteristics enable her girl-heroes to “rescue other children” (Line 50). In this way, Tula’s epic, but “invisible” (Line 39), fantasy books empower and free other girls and women who may likewise be oppressed by norms to which they do not abide.