Thoughts About Cervantes

Cervantes certainly is an interesting poet. I am especially intrigued by "Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway." Like TTW, Cervantes refers to different birds. She refers to seagulls, but she refers to mockingbirds in three different sections. I'm not quite sure what to make of the mockingbirds. She says that: "In California in the summer, / mockingbirds sing all night. / Grandma says they are singing for their nesting wives." Perhaps the birds remind the poet of her history and the history of her family's women. But Grant Lee Phillips (another poet from California) wrote a song titled "Mockingbirds." Like the poem, the song is about a difficult relationship. I'm just not sure. What do you all think about the mockingbirds? What do they mean?
Gussie