The Poet X

by

Elizabeth Acevedo

Xiomara Batista Character Analysis

Xiomara is the novel’s protagonist. Xiomara is a 15-year-old Dominican American teenager living in Harlem. She is also a twin, and, until she begins to find her voice, a secret poet. In her poetry notebook, Xiomara writes poetry about everything from her pressing questions about Catholicism to kissing boys and the fact that she constantly has to defend herself against stereotyping and sexual harassment. Xiomara is very tall and curvy, and she’s often subjected to catcalls and groping from boys at school as well as grown men on the street. While Xiomara hates this, her discomfort and confusion is heightened by her upbringing in the Catholic Church. Xiomara has never had a choice about whether to attend church—and their church makes a point to note that it’s a woman’s responsibility to not be sexual or attract men’s attention. For Xiomara, this is extremely confusing, as she’s very interested in boys and, a few weeks into the school year, begins a relationship with a classmate named Aman. Because of the intense shame and guilt that Xiomara feels, she sometimes struggles to enjoy her time with Aman, even as she wants to kiss and, at times, do more. Around the same time, Xiomara begins taking classes with Father Sean so that she can be confirmed in the church. Given what Xiomara sees about the church’s priorities when it comes to women, as well as the fact that, as a twin born to parents who had given up on having children, she’s considered a miracle who needs to earn her right to life daily, Xiomara isn’t ready to be confirmed—not least because she’s not sure if she wants to worship God. Her questions result in Father Sean excusing her from confirmation, which gives Xiomara the opportunity to secretly attend poetry club meetings. Her introduction to spoken word poetry gives Xiomara the confidence to begin performing and writing more intentionally, and she also begins to make more friends. After Mami burns Xiomara’s poetry notebook, Xiomara asserts her independence by running away for a night and, with the help of Ms. Galiano and Father Sean, agrees to begin a dialogue with Mami about their fraught relationship.

Xiomara Batista Quotes in The Poet X

The The Poet X quotes below are all either spoken by Xiomara Batista or refer to Xiomara Batista. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Sexuality and Shame Theme Icon
).
Part I Quotes

The other girls call me conceited. Ho. Thot. Fast.
When your body takes up more room than your voice
you are always the target of well-aimed rumors,
which is why I let my knuckles talk for me.
Which is why I learned to shrug when my name was replaced
by insults.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker)
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:

I look at her scarred knuckles.
I know exactly how she was taught
faith.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:

Their gazes and words
are heavy with all the things
they want you to be.

It is ungrateful to feel like a burden.
It is ungrateful to resent my own birth.
I know that Twin and I are miracles.

Aren’t we reminded every single day?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Twin , Mami, Papi
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:

And I get all this attention from guys
but it’s like a sancocho of emotions.

This stew of mixed-up ingredients:
partly flattered they think I’m attractive,
partly scared they’re only interested in my ass and boobs,
and a good measure of Mami-will-kill-me fear sprinkled on top.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Aman, Ms. Galiano
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:

What if I like a boy too much
and none of those things happen...
they’re the only scales I have.

How does a girl like me figure out the weight
of what it means to love a boy?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Papi
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:

“Good girls don’t wear tampones.
Are you still a virgin? Are you having relations?”

I didn’t know how to answer her, I could only cry.
She shook her head and told me to skip church that day.
Threw away the box of tampons, saying they were for cueros.
That she would buy me pads. Said eleven was too young.
That she would pray on my behalf.

I didn’t understand what she was saying.
But I stopped crying. I licked at my split lip.
I prayed for the bleeding to stop.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami (speaker)
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:

what’s the point of God giving me life
if I can’t live it as my own?

Why does listening to his commandments
mean I need to shut down my own voice?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Father Sean
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:

The poet talks about being black, about being a woman,
about how beauty standards make it seem she isn’t pretty.
I don’t breathe for the entire three minutes

while I watch her hands, and face,
feeling like she’s talking directly to me.
She’s saying the thoughts I didn’t know anyone else had.

We’re different, this poet and I. In looks, in body,
in background. But I don’t feel so different
when I listen to her. I feel heard.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Ms. Galiano
Page Number: 76
Explanation and Analysis:

I just needed people saying words
about all the things that hurt them.

And maybe this is why Papi stopped listening to music,
because it can make your body want to rebel. To speak up.

And even that young I learned music can become a bridge
between you and a total stranger.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Papi, Aman
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Part II Quotes

“And about this apple,
how come God didn’t explain
why they couldn’t eat it?
He gave Eve curiosity
but didn’t expect her to use it?
Unless the apple is a metaphor?
Is the whole Bible a poem?
What’s not a metaphor?
Did any of it actually happen?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Father Sean, Caridad
Related Symbols: Apples
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:

And I knew then what I’d known since my period came:
my body was trouble. I had to pray the trouble out
of the body God gave me. My body was a problem.
And I didn’t want any of these boys to be the ones to solve it.
I wanted to forget I had this body at all.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Aman
Page Number: 151
Explanation and Analysis:

When I was little
Mami was my hero.
But then I grew breasts
and although she was always extra hard on me,
her attention became something else,
like she wanted to turn me
into the nun
she could never be.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami
Page Number: 179
Explanation and Analysis:

He grins at me and shrugs. “I came here and practiced a lot.
My pops never wanted to put me in classes. Said it was too soft.”

And now his smile is a little sad.
And I think about all the things we could be
if we were never told our bodies were not built for them.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Aman (speaker)
Page Number: 188
Explanation and Analysis:

I don’t yell how the whole block whispers
when I walk down the street
about all the women
who made a cuero out of him.

But men are never called cueros.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Papi, Aman
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:

I’ll be anything that makes sense
of this panic. I’ll loosen myself from this painful flesh.

See, a cuero is any skin. A cuero
is just a covering. A cuero is a loose thing.
Tied down by no one. Fluttering
and waving in the wind. Flying. Flying. Gone.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Papi, Aman
Page Number: 206
Explanation and Analysis:
Part III Quotes

“I’m sorry I got in trouble.
I’m sorry I have to be here.
That I have to pretend to you and her
that I care about confirmation at all.
But I’m not sorry I kissed a boy.
I’m only sorry I was caught,
Or that I had to hide it at all.”

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Aman, Father Sean
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:

But even business deals are promises.
And we still married in a church.
And so I never walked away from him

although I tried my best to get back
to my first love.
And confirmation is the last step I can give you.

Related Characters: Mami (speaker), Xiomara Batista, Papi, Aman
Page Number: 231
Explanation and Analysis:

I can’t remember
the last time people were silent
while I spoke, actually listening.

Not since Aman.
But it’s nice to know I don’t need him
in order to feel listened to.

My little words
feel important, for just a moment.
This is a feeling I could get addicted to.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Aman, Ms. Galiano, Isabelle, Chris, Stephan
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 259
Explanation and Analysis:

I actually raise my hand
in English class
and answer Ms. Galiano’s question.
Because at least here with her,
I know my words are okay.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Twin , Mami, Aman, Ms. Galiano
Page Number: 264
Explanation and Analysis:

Because so many of the poems tonight
felt a little like our own stories.
Like we saw and were seen.
And how crazy would it be
if I did that for someone else?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Twin , Caridad
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 282
Explanation and Analysis:

And I know that I’m ready to slam.
That my poetry has become something I’m proud of.
The way the words say what I mean,
how they twist and turn language,
how they connect with people.
How they build community.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Ms. Galiano, Chris, Stephan
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 287
Explanation and Analysis:

I lay it across my wrist
and cinch the clasps closed.
Her daughter on one side,
myself on the other.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami
Related Symbols: The Baby Bracelet
Page Number: 292
Explanation and Analysis:

I have no more poems. My mind blanks.
A roar tears from my mouth.
“Burn it! Burn it.
This is where the poems are,” I say,
thumping a fist against my chest.

“Will you burn me? Will you burn me, too?
You would burn me, wouldn’t you, if you could?”

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 308
Explanation and Analysis:

She puts a soft hand on my arm
and I look into the face of a woman
not much older than me,
a woman with a Spanish last name,
who loves books and poetry,
who I notice for the first time is pretty,
who has a soft voice and called my house
because she was worried
and the words are out before I know it:

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Aman, Ms. Galiano
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 332
Explanation and Analysis:

And so, I love this quote because even though it’s not about poetry, it IS about poetry. It’s about any of the words that bring us together and how we can form a home in them.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Father Sean, Ms. Galiano
Page Number: 356
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Poet X LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Poet X PDF

Xiomara Batista Quotes in The Poet X

The The Poet X quotes below are all either spoken by Xiomara Batista or refer to Xiomara Batista. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Sexuality and Shame Theme Icon
).
Part I Quotes

The other girls call me conceited. Ho. Thot. Fast.
When your body takes up more room than your voice
you are always the target of well-aimed rumors,
which is why I let my knuckles talk for me.
Which is why I learned to shrug when my name was replaced
by insults.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker)
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:

I look at her scarred knuckles.
I know exactly how she was taught
faith.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:

Their gazes and words
are heavy with all the things
they want you to be.

It is ungrateful to feel like a burden.
It is ungrateful to resent my own birth.
I know that Twin and I are miracles.

Aren’t we reminded every single day?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Twin , Mami, Papi
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:

And I get all this attention from guys
but it’s like a sancocho of emotions.

This stew of mixed-up ingredients:
partly flattered they think I’m attractive,
partly scared they’re only interested in my ass and boobs,
and a good measure of Mami-will-kill-me fear sprinkled on top.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Aman, Ms. Galiano
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:

What if I like a boy too much
and none of those things happen...
they’re the only scales I have.

How does a girl like me figure out the weight
of what it means to love a boy?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Papi
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:

“Good girls don’t wear tampones.
Are you still a virgin? Are you having relations?”

I didn’t know how to answer her, I could only cry.
She shook her head and told me to skip church that day.
Threw away the box of tampons, saying they were for cueros.
That she would buy me pads. Said eleven was too young.
That she would pray on my behalf.

I didn’t understand what she was saying.
But I stopped crying. I licked at my split lip.
I prayed for the bleeding to stop.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami (speaker)
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:

what’s the point of God giving me life
if I can’t live it as my own?

Why does listening to his commandments
mean I need to shut down my own voice?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Father Sean
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:

The poet talks about being black, about being a woman,
about how beauty standards make it seem she isn’t pretty.
I don’t breathe for the entire three minutes

while I watch her hands, and face,
feeling like she’s talking directly to me.
She’s saying the thoughts I didn’t know anyone else had.

We’re different, this poet and I. In looks, in body,
in background. But I don’t feel so different
when I listen to her. I feel heard.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Ms. Galiano
Page Number: 76
Explanation and Analysis:

I just needed people saying words
about all the things that hurt them.

And maybe this is why Papi stopped listening to music,
because it can make your body want to rebel. To speak up.

And even that young I learned music can become a bridge
between you and a total stranger.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Papi, Aman
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Part II Quotes

“And about this apple,
how come God didn’t explain
why they couldn’t eat it?
He gave Eve curiosity
but didn’t expect her to use it?
Unless the apple is a metaphor?
Is the whole Bible a poem?
What’s not a metaphor?
Did any of it actually happen?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Father Sean, Caridad
Related Symbols: Apples
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:

And I knew then what I’d known since my period came:
my body was trouble. I had to pray the trouble out
of the body God gave me. My body was a problem.
And I didn’t want any of these boys to be the ones to solve it.
I wanted to forget I had this body at all.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Aman
Page Number: 151
Explanation and Analysis:

When I was little
Mami was my hero.
But then I grew breasts
and although she was always extra hard on me,
her attention became something else,
like she wanted to turn me
into the nun
she could never be.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami
Page Number: 179
Explanation and Analysis:

He grins at me and shrugs. “I came here and practiced a lot.
My pops never wanted to put me in classes. Said it was too soft.”

And now his smile is a little sad.
And I think about all the things we could be
if we were never told our bodies were not built for them.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Aman (speaker)
Page Number: 188
Explanation and Analysis:

I don’t yell how the whole block whispers
when I walk down the street
about all the women
who made a cuero out of him.

But men are never called cueros.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Papi, Aman
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:

I’ll be anything that makes sense
of this panic. I’ll loosen myself from this painful flesh.

See, a cuero is any skin. A cuero
is just a covering. A cuero is a loose thing.
Tied down by no one. Fluttering
and waving in the wind. Flying. Flying. Gone.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Papi, Aman
Page Number: 206
Explanation and Analysis:
Part III Quotes

“I’m sorry I got in trouble.
I’m sorry I have to be here.
That I have to pretend to you and her
that I care about confirmation at all.
But I’m not sorry I kissed a boy.
I’m only sorry I was caught,
Or that I had to hide it at all.”

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Aman, Father Sean
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:

But even business deals are promises.
And we still married in a church.
And so I never walked away from him

although I tried my best to get back
to my first love.
And confirmation is the last step I can give you.

Related Characters: Mami (speaker), Xiomara Batista, Papi, Aman
Page Number: 231
Explanation and Analysis:

I can’t remember
the last time people were silent
while I spoke, actually listening.

Not since Aman.
But it’s nice to know I don’t need him
in order to feel listened to.

My little words
feel important, for just a moment.
This is a feeling I could get addicted to.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Aman, Ms. Galiano, Isabelle, Chris, Stephan
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 259
Explanation and Analysis:

I actually raise my hand
in English class
and answer Ms. Galiano’s question.
Because at least here with her,
I know my words are okay.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Twin , Mami, Aman, Ms. Galiano
Page Number: 264
Explanation and Analysis:

Because so many of the poems tonight
felt a little like our own stories.
Like we saw and were seen.
And how crazy would it be
if I did that for someone else?

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Twin , Caridad
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 282
Explanation and Analysis:

And I know that I’m ready to slam.
That my poetry has become something I’m proud of.
The way the words say what I mean,
how they twist and turn language,
how they connect with people.
How they build community.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Ms. Galiano, Chris, Stephan
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 287
Explanation and Analysis:

I lay it across my wrist
and cinch the clasps closed.
Her daughter on one side,
myself on the other.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami
Related Symbols: The Baby Bracelet
Page Number: 292
Explanation and Analysis:

I have no more poems. My mind blanks.
A roar tears from my mouth.
“Burn it! Burn it.
This is where the poems are,” I say,
thumping a fist against my chest.

“Will you burn me? Will you burn me, too?
You would burn me, wouldn’t you, if you could?”

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 308
Explanation and Analysis:

She puts a soft hand on my arm
and I look into the face of a woman
not much older than me,
a woman with a Spanish last name,
who loves books and poetry,
who I notice for the first time is pretty,
who has a soft voice and called my house
because she was worried
and the words are out before I know it:

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Aman, Ms. Galiano
Related Symbols: Xiomara’s Poetry Notebook
Page Number: 332
Explanation and Analysis:

And so, I love this quote because even though it’s not about poetry, it IS about poetry. It’s about any of the words that bring us together and how we can form a home in them.

Related Characters: Xiomara Batista (speaker), Mami, Father Sean, Ms. Galiano
Page Number: 356
Explanation and Analysis: