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

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual,” is a 27-line, free verse poem, meaning that there are no consistent patterns of rhyme, rhythm, or meter throughout the entirety of the piece. The poem contains 14 stanzas, or groupings of lines. Every stanza, excluding the final stanza (Stanza 14), is two lines long. These two-line stanzas create the visual structure of the poem, but more than that, they also allow Limón to organize her ideas. Each time a new line of thinking is introduced into the poem, Limón creates a new stanza. The free-flowing nature of the verse allows Limón to move from idea to new idea with relative ease. This constant movement also acts as a way to inundate readers with the same questions and stipulations being asked of and placed on the author signing the contract with a big publishing house. The constant breaks between the brief stanzas force readers to sit with each new racial stereotype and invasive question being introduced into the poem, allowing them the time to evaluate the problematic nature of what is being said. Stanza 14 ends the poem with a singular line, standing in stark contrast to the pairs that preceded it.

The form of “The Contract Says: We’d Like the Conversation to be Bilingual” is at first unassuming, but it becomes more nuanced as you interrogate its construction, proving Limón’s central argument: The assumption that people of color are one-dimensional is false, and it is only when institutions like publishing allow people of color to tell their stories authentically, with no conditions, that racial stereotypes will be deconstructed.

Caesura

Caesuras are stops or pauses in a metrical line of poetry that are often marked by punctuation or grammatical boundaries such as commas or periods. Caesuras typically appear in the middle of a line of poetry, creating an abrupt divide within the content. Limón uses a total of six caesuras throughout the poem. Lines 3, 6, 12, 16, 19, and 22 all contain caesuras, underscoring the severity of the sudden and intrusive questions being asked within each of those lines (see: Poem Analysis). These moments of unexpected pause force readers to reckon with the unfair questions asked of authors of color in an industry built on white standards.

Enjambment

Enjambment occurs when one line of poetry flows into the next without being end-stopped by any form of punctuation. Limón’s use of this literary device creates internal connections across the constant line breaks and stanza breaks within the poem, balancing the purposeful pauses created by the caesuras with smooth transitions. Enjambed lines such as “will you check this / box; we’re applying for a grant” (Lines 3-4) connect the form of the poem to its content. Enjambed lines are filled with suspense, similar to that of a traditional cliffhanger, forcing readers to engage with the text fully in order to come to the author’s final conclusion. Due to the context of a contractual agreement, the line, “will you check this” (Line 3), at first reads as a question of expertise: The publisher is asking the author for clarification on their work. However, by flowing straight into the next line it quickly becomes clear that the author is merely a prop, there to fill the company’s diversity quota instead. Limón’s use of enjambment inundates readers with a flood of information that never stops, evoking the same feeling of overwhelm experienced by authors of color that are too often victims to these types of conversations.