Tula ["Books are door shaped"]

The motif of fantasy imagery runs throughout most of the poem. Books themselves are considered magical because they contain the “enchantment / of words” (Lines 18-19). Magic books appear in many contemporary and historical works, such as Prospero’s books in Shakespeare’s Tempest. Grimoires (alchemist’s and other magician’s books) are categorized as occult because they contain secret or hidden knowledge. Tula’s mother’s act of banning her from reading transforms what might have been her father’s normal books into occult texts.

In addition to books and supernatural creatures, Engle’s poem contains metaphoric language that draws upon well-known fantasy motifs, like labyrinths. Tula describes her loneliness and confusion as a “tangled maze” (Line 37). Labyrinths appear in many Hispanic American fantasy works, such as stories and poems by Jorge Luis Borges, as well as the movie Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro.

Tula’s mother locks books in a “clear glass cabinet” (Line 13). In the poem “Tula [On lonely nights I remember],” a companion piece in The Lightning Dreamer, Tula breaks this “glass bookcase” (Line 7). Engle’s reference to a glass ceiling (a barrier for women to achieve a certain level in their careers) in her 2013 book is a way to convey to modern audiences how Tula broke barriers for women in the 19th century.