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The title of today’s poem, Zacuanpapalotls, is the
AZTEC word for the monarch butterfly.
Thousands of Mexicans believe that the souls of the dead are reborn as
zacuanpapalotl—the Aztec name for monarchs.
n Monarchs travel over 3,000 miles in their migration, an average of 100
miles per day.
n If the monarch butterfly has spent the summer east of the Rocky
Mountains, it will travel to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. Here,
they are known as Mariposa monarca and will spend the winter days from
October to late March in the warm, unique habitat of oyamel fir trees
(Abies religiosa). (Credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service)
Brenda Cárdenas’ books of
poetry include Boomerang and
From the Tongues of Brick and Stone.
She also co-edited the anthology
Between the Heart and the Land /
Entre el corazón y la tierra: Latina
Poets in the Midwest. Her poetry
often blends Spanish with English
to give voice to her Latina culture,
heritage and language. She was
born and raised on the south
side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
where in the 1940s, her Mexican
grandparents, Jose and Mercedes,
opened Cárdenas Grocery at S. 6th
and Walker Streets--one of the first
to sell Mexican, Puerto Rican and
American foods.”
Education: MFA, Creative
Writing-Poetry, University of
Michigan-Ann Arbor, 1995BA,
English, University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee, 1987.
Work: Cardenas is a professor
of English at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Path of the Monarch
credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service
MULTIMEDIA ACTIVITY
n Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Q0_6kzBS0 a video
reading of the poem created by a young girl.
n Discuss how to make a video like this one. Would the girls like to try
making a video representation of a poem?
Cronmiller / Way to GLOW, Year 1, Session 1 35