Call Me Maria

In a multi-page poem, María describes her best friend, Whoopee Dominguez, a creative and energetic young person. Whoopee has a strong imagination and helps María navigate difficult emotions. María also admires how Whoopee stands up for what is right, including stopping a woman in the building from beating a child.

In the final two stanzas of the poem, María also describes Whoopee’s fear of “her own reflection” (40). María states that this fear comes from the fact that there are few images that portray people of Whoopee’s heritage as being beautiful. María wishes that there were better examples for her friend to see.

María’s upstairs neighbor, Doña Segura, is a gifted embroiderer who is almost completely blind. She gifts her patterns when there is an appropriate occasion, and at one point, she sews María a treasured pillowcase with a sun over the ocean. María is touched by the gesture and lays her “head on Doña Segura’s dreamcatcher every night” to remain connected to her Island (42).

Uma and her mother are also neighbors of María’s. They are from India and are objects of curiosity to their Puerto Rican neighbors. While some neighbors complain about Uma and her mother because their apartment smells of different spices,