“If I could stand alone, strong and free,” is the most important phrase in Julio Noboa Planco’s poem “Identity,” because it is what he values the most. The poem is about what Julio wants to be and what he values. He uses the metaphor I would rather be a tall ugly weed than flower to show what he desires in life.
Julio values being free over being safe and having an easy contained life.
This is first shown through line 1 through 3, “Let them be flowers, always watered, fed, guarded, admired, but harnessed to a pot of dirt.” The evidence portrayed Julio’s feelings for a disdain of a guarded contained life. Shown through the words “let them,” so he doesn’t want to be or join them. Then the words “always watered, fed, guarded, admired,” are