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Carley Henry

Dr. Aaron Castroverde

SPAN 1102

27 April 2020

Tardes

As a child I was shy and very observant of the things going on around me. I can

remember Saturdays when my mom worked and my dad was off. He would always take my

brother and I to town to the stores and we would eat at this cafe. The cafe was always crowded

and we knew everybody. I loved walking throughout the stores and sitting outside because that

was more of my speed. I chose the poem, Tardes written by Jorge H. Aigla. This poem

reminded me of my childhood and how so much can change as you get older.

The author of this poem, again is named Jorge H. Aigla. Some background knowledge

on him that I have learned is that he was born in Mexico City in 1954. He went to college in

California in 1975 at the College of California and also received his masters degree in 1979 form

the University of California-San Francisco. He has written many poems and is a man of many

talents. I learned that he also was a medical examiner and a professor of anatomy and

physiology. He currently is a professor at St. John’s College and has been a part of their faculty

since 1985. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In this poem, I love how descriptive the author is about his Saturday with his dad. How

much he remembers what went on each place he went. It tells that there was a man with a stamp

collection and that maybe the boy would get one of the stamps as he got older; my dad had his

own stamp collection and now I have it. I love seeing similarities one can have to different,

poems or stories. I can see how much this boy looked up to his dad, it is a good description that
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their relationship was strong at that time. As the poem goes one, it dwindles down to the end

where it says, “Those crammed afternoons, already abandoned, shadowed by death, undone by a

fast and coarse world, taught me what it is to fill out the alertness of time” (Aigla, 37-41). The

author shares how as a child, we are so innocent and do not see the ways of this world or how

much can change in just a blink of an eye. Time flies and before we know it we are adults and

have gone through so much. Death happens, people hurt you, and those “Saturday afternoons”

are lost in our memories.

If I could go back in time to experience another “Saturday afternoon” with my dad, I

would. This author is so realistic in this poem and tells the truth for my life. My dad passed

away the summer after my freshman year of college, so daily I wish I could just talk to him or

spend an afternoon with him. My dad’s death was very sudden and was not expected, so not

being able to say goodbye was hard for me. I constantly go back to those memories of hanging

out in town or playing outside. Those sweet memories give me happiness and I reminisce on

little moments as I have grown up.

Even though, hard times happen in all of our lives, I have learned how much they can

teach us or help us to grow. I have learned sometimes the hard lessons, are the most teachable

moments of our lives and help build our character. Knowing this is not fully my same story, it is

so cool to me how different people can interpret different things from poems and relate. Even

during this time of quarantine, it gives us the opportunity to reminisce on past memories and

show us how fast we constantly move. Never slowing down or pondering on things going on in

our daily lives, this give us such a wonderful opportunity to just be still and reflect.
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Cite

“Afternoons by Jorge H. Aigla - Poems | Academy of American Poets.” Poets.org, Academy of

American Poets, poets.org/poem/afternoons.

“Jorge H. Aigla.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, poets.org/poet/jorge-h-aigla.