The Poet X Pages 207-253 Summary

Xiomara's mother sees men as dirty. She warns X to stay away from them. When her mother is forcing her to kneel on the floor, Xiomara notices that her mother has rough hands from constantly cleaning other people's houses. When she finally gets up, Twin gives Xiomara a bag of frozen vegetables to put on her knees and another for her cheek. Xiomara reminds Twin that in a couple more years they can leave. Her punishments include no cell phone, no hanging out, and no skipping church. Twin offers X his phone so that she can text Aman, but she doesn't know what she'd say.

At her locker Friday morning a boy bumps into her and squeezes her behind. He says "oops" like it's an accident, but she knows it's not. She sees Aman watching and wants him to stand up for her, but he doesn't move. Xiomara pushes the guy in the back and threatens to put his nails in his face if he ever touches her again. Then as she passes Aman, she tells him the same thing, which ends Part 2.

In Part 3 Xiomara is keeping quiet. She asks to take confession with Father Sean, but he wants to talk to her privately instead. It feels odd that her sin is only lust, which isn't that bad in the scheme of things. Father Sean asks if she's actually sorry for her sin, and she admits that she isn't. Father Sean suggests that maybe it's not the kiss for which she needs to ask forgiveness. Being from Jamaica, Father Sean's Spanish accent comes through when he tells Xiomara's mother that she might not be ready for confirmation. He reminds Altagracia that anger is a sin too. Her mother tries to hold in her anger, but she's mad that Xiomara isn't religious. Xiomara didn't mean to hurt anyone just by kissing a boy.

In their room Twin is watching videos and an ad endorsed by a Winter Olympian comes on, which upsets Xiomara. Xiomara continues to write in her journal each day to vent her frustrations. When she gets home from school, she hears her mother on the phone talking about sending her to the Dominican Republic for the summer. The day before Thanksgiving, Caridad calls to say that she's upset she hasn't heard anything from Xiomara in two weeks. Xiomara is grateful for the call. Later they go to the shelter and help feed the homeless. Her mother returned her cell phone to her that day, but it was bittersweet because Xiomara didn't have anyone to call.

For her fourth writing assignment, the topic is about the last time she felt free. Xiomara thinks about when she said a poem to Aman, who was such a good listener or sitting on her front stoop watching people walk by, but she ends up writing about Nelson Mandela. When she gets the assignment back, there is a note on it from Ms. Galiano asking to see her. She asks what's going on, and Xiomara tells her she will redo the assignment and show up to poetry club the next day since Father Sean isn't expecting her at confirmation class anymore.



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