Poetry for Students

Once Again I Prove the

Theory of Relativity

Sandra Cisneros’s poem “Once Again I Prove the

Theory of Relativity” is from her third book of po-

etry,Loose Woman(1994). The poem is a cele-

bration of romantic love. The female speaker

imagines how excited and delighted she would be

if her lover were to return. She lets her mind and

heart contemplate all the things she would do for

him and how well she would treat him and relates

how beautiful he is. She says she would dote on

him and make sure she fully got to know him be-

fore he departed again, as she knows he would.

Cisneros is noted not only for her poems but

also for her novels and short stories. She typically

portrays strong, independent women of Mexican

American heritage, who refuse to conform to tradi-

tional male expectations of how women should be-

have and what their place in society should be. “Once

Again I Prove the Theory of Relativity” is not ex-

actly a typical Cisneros piece, since it does not em-

phasize the Chicano or feminist aspect of her work.

Instead, it is a heartfelt expression of the ideal of ro-

mantic love. It reveals the heightened perceptions

and intensity of sensual and emotional responses that

such love calls forth. It also expresses the realiza-

tion that in such intense experiences of love, whether

they last or not, lie the seeds of creativity and art.

Author Biography

Sandra Cisneros was born December 20, 1954, in

Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of a Mexican

Sandra Cisneros

1994

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