Poetry+responses

=Blair=

How to Change a Frog Into a Prince Anna Denise Start with the underwear. Sit him down.

Hopping on one leg may stir unpleasant memories.

If he gets his tights on, even backwards, praise him.

Fingers, formerly webbed, struggle over buttons.

Arms and legs, lengthened out of proportion, wait,

as you do, for the rest of him to catch up.

This body, so recently reformed, reclaimed,

still carries the marks of its time as a frog. Be gentle.

Avoid the words awkward and gawky.

Do not use tadpole as a term of endearment.

His body, like his clothing, may seem one size too big.

Relax. There's time enough for crowns. He'll grow into it.

1.The theme of this Poem is putting clothes on a frog 2. the imagery in this Poem is getting the clothes on the frog but your never going to change him into the prince you can wait for that. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. My favorite line in this Poem is the last line "There's time enough for crowns. He'll grow into it." <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. i liked this peom because i thought it was funny <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. I picked this poem because it had very good humor in it. and its showed a lesson the lesson is that you can grow into it

=Justin= <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">**Nick Flynn** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**Children under, say, //ten//, shouldn't know**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**that the universe is ever-expanding,**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**inexorably pushing into the vacuum, galaxies** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**swallowed by galaxies, whole** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**solar systems collapsing, all of it**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**acted out in silence. At ten we are still learning** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**the rules of cartoon animation,** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**that if a man draws a door on a rock**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**only he can pass through it.**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**Anyone else who tries** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**will crash into the rock. Ten-year-olds**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**should stick with burning houses, car wrecks,**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**ships going down -- earthbound, tangible** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**disasters, arenas** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**where they can be heroes. You can run**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**back into a burning house, sinking ships** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**have lifeboats, the trucks will come**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**with their ladders, if you jump** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**you will be saved. A child** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**places her hand on the roof of a schoolbus,**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**& drives across a city of sand. She knows** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**the exact spot it will skid, at which point**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**the bridge will give, who will swim to safety**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**& who will be pulled under by sharks. She will learn** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**that if a man runs off the edge of a cliff**

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**he will not fall** <span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffff00; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">**until he notices his mistake.**

1.The theme is that 10 yr olds are the only ones who can really defy the laws of physics with their imagination. Also one thing is the author is saying he doesn’t want kids to find out about physics.

2.An example of imagery is it says if a man were to draw a door on a rock and walk through it, and that made me see someone actually doing that.

3.My favorite line is the one with imagery because I could imagine someone trying to do that but not being able to walk through and I think that’s kind of funny.

5.I chose this poem because I thought it was funny and true. Also it’s something that I’ve heard about before since my brother actually reads books with them in it, and I liked it.

6. This relates to the theme of growing up by it talking about how it doesn’t want kids to stop having imagination, and “defying the laws of physics”.

=Nick=

= The Grammar Lesson =

Steve Kowit
A noun's a thing. A verb's the thing it does.

An adjective is what describes the noun.

In "The can of beets is filled with purple fuzz" //of// and //with// are prepositions. //The's//

an article, a //can's// a noun,

a noun's a thing. A verb's the thing it does. A can //can// roll - or not. What isn't was

or might be, //might// meaning not yet known.

"Our can of beets //is// filled with purple fuzz" is present tense. While words like our and us

are pronouns - i.e. //it// is moldy, //they// are icky brown.

A noun's a thing; a verb's the thing it does. Is is a helping verb. It helps because

//filled// isn't a full verb. //Can's// what //our// owns

in "Our can of beets is filled with purple fuzz." See? There's almost nothing to it. Just

memorize these rules...or write them down!

A noun's a thing, a verb's the thing it does.

The can of beets is filled with purple fuzz.

1. The theme of the poem I chose is about grammar. 2. The imagery of this poem is "Just memorize these rules... or write them down". 3. My favorite line in the poem is A noun's a thing. A verb's the thing it does.

because it keeps getting repeated throughout the poem. 4.The other types of figurative language is hyperbole. "A can can roll-or not." 5. I picked this poem because it has to do with school.

=Zach= <span style="display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Billy Collins <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I ask them to take a poem

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and hold it up to the light

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">like a color slide <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">or press an ear against its hive. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I say drop a mouse into a poem

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and watch him probe his way out, <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">or walk inside the poem's room

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and feel the walls for a light switch. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I want them to waterski

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">across the surface of a poem

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">waving at the author's name on the shore. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But all they want to do

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">is tie the poem to a chair with rope

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and torture a confession out of it. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They begin beating it with a hose

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">to find out what it really means.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">1. The theme of my poem is the outdoors.

2. I saw people water skiing and putting poems up against the sun.

3. My favorite line is I want them to waterski because i like water skiing.

4. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I didn't find that much figurative language other than when he compared to them putting something up against the sun.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> 5.I choose this because I really like the theme.

=Matt D.= =Break=

Dorianne Laux
We put the puzzle together piece

by piece, loving how one curved

notch fits so sweetly with another.

A yellow smudge becomes

the brush of a broom, and two blue arms

fill in the last of the sky.

We patch together porch swings and autumn

trees, matching gold to gold. We hold

the eyes of deer in our palms, a pair

of brown shoes. We do this as the child

circles her room, impatient

with her blossoming, tired

of the neat house, the made bed,

the good food. We let her brood

as we shuffle through the pieces,

setting each one into place with a satisfied

tap, our backs turned for a few hours

to a world that is crumbling, a sky

that is falling, the pieces

we are required to return to. 1. The theme is a child on break. 2. I found how destructive a child can be. 3. My favorite line is our backs turned for a few hours to a world that is crumbling. 4. The type of figurative language is that they are doing something thing else then the world is " crumbling " while it actually is just their house becoming messy. 5. I chose this poem because it reminded me about how immature young children are.

=Maya= =Halloween=

Mac Hammond
The butcher knife goes in, first, at the top And carves out the round stemmed lid, The hole of which allows the hand to go In to pull the gooey mess inside, out - The walls scooped clean with a spoon. A grim design decided on, that afternoon, The eyes are the first to go, Isosceles or trapezoid, the square nose, The down-turned mouth with three Hideous teeth and, sometimes, Round ears. At dusk it's lighted, the room behind it dark. Outside, looking in, it looks like a Pumpkin, it looks like ripeness is all. Kids come, beckoned by Fingers of shadows on leaf-strewn lawns To trick or treat. Standing at the open Door, the sculptor, a warlock, drops Penny candies into their bags, knowing The message of winter: only the children, Pretending to be ghosts, are real.

The theme of this poem is the steps of carving a pumpkin. the characteristic of a person/jack-o-lantern

Imagery that i found included: explaining what the inside of the pumpkin and what the final jack-o-lantern looked like.

my favorite line in the poem is, " The message of winter; only the children, Pretending to be ghosts, are real," I like this line because it is saying how kids act on Halloween and how their imaginations can make things that are not real, into real things.

I choose this poem because I enjoy Halloween and I thought that the authors perspective on Halloween is really interesting.

I think this poem relates to growing up because dressing up and getting really exited about dressing up as your favorite character in a show or favorite super hero is really exiting when you are little. I think all kids look forward to dressing up at some point in their lives, weather they admit it or not.

= Ted = <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Tour <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Carol Snow <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> Near a shrine in Japan he'd swept the path <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> and then placed camellia blossoms there. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> Or -- we had no way of knowing -- he'd swept the path <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> between fallen camellias.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> 1. The theme of this poem is that there is two ways to look at everything. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> 2. I didn't find any imagery. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> 3. Or -- we had no way of knowing -- he'd swept the path <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> between fallen camellias. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> 4. The entire thing is figurative because the meaning of it could be applied to anything. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"> 5. Because I thought it was cool the way the author made me think about things in two ways.

=Jayna= //This poem uses the many meanings of the word "line" to talk about love.// **Lines** //Martha Collins// **Draw a line. Write a line. There. Stay in line, hold the line, a glance between the lines is fine but don't turn corners, cross, cut in, go over or out, between two points of no return's a line of flight, between two points of view's a line of vision. But a line of thought is rarely straight, an open line's no party line, however fine your point. A line of fire communicates, but drop your weapons and drop your line, consider the shortest distance from //x//** **to //y//****, let //x//** **be me, let //y//** **be you.**

1 Theme of the poem How love takes so many different turns in the road. It’s showing how you should act while you are in love. I found the theme from a hint from the website. It says “ This poem uses the many meanings of the word "line" to talk about love.” This hint gave me insight on how to look at the poem in a different light. At first I thought it was talking about algebra and didn’t understand it that well. But when I found out that “line” stood for love I really did see how the author made it to be.

2 Favorite line There are only about 3 sentences in the poem, so I’m going to choose a section of one sentence that I enjoyed. “But a line of thought is rarely straight” I liked this line for a few reasons. I thought that the message of it was really strong. I interpreted it as when your in love, you can’t think straight. And also, just like the whole poem I liked that instead of using “love” she said “line”.

3 Other types of figurative language used in poem. Examples This poem is a bit different as it is not as related to realistic life, but there are still a few examples of poetic devices and figurative language. I found there was a lot of personification. For example when it says “An open line’s no party line” I thought this to be personification because where a person can party/ go to a party, and a line can’t so I thought that was a good example. Also another example of personification, is when the poem says “ so drop your weapons, drop your line”. Again only people/ living things can drop a weapon( I’m not positive someone can drop a line)/ drop their defenses, so this was became another example of personification.

4 why I chose this poem I chose this poem because I understood what it was talking about, and how clever the poet was by using that repeated word “LINE”. When she used the word it added unity to the poem, and it also helped the clarity of your understanding. When you found out that line meant love, the repeated word line made it seem cool that it wasn’t quite like a regular poem. It was really clever how she took a word and by using other words in it’s context, changed it’s meaning.

5 How does poem relate to theme of growing up? This poem doesn’t relate to the theme of growing up quite like the other poems in the packet do. It didn’t have to do with dreams, childhood games, or thinking in depth about the past, but it had to do with love. I guess love is a part of life and you grow into it. It might not have been as young as the poem “ the Lanyard”, but it was about people growing up into it and trying it out. And to really grow up, you have to grow into different things.

=Alex= <span style="display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">The Blue Bowl <span style="display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Jane Kenyon

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Like primitives we buried the cat

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">back into the hole.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They fell with a hiss

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and thud on his side,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">on his long red fur, the white feathers

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">between his toes, and his

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">long, not to say aquiline, nose. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We stood and brushed each other off.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There are sorrows keener than these. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Silent the rest of the day, we worked,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">ate, stared, and slept. It stormed

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">all night; now it clears, and a robin

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">burbles from a dripping bush

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">like the neighbor who means well

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">but always says the wrong thing.

The theme is the sorrow of burying a pet, you feel a great Sorrow when you read "bare-handed we scraped sand and gravel back into the hole.

They fell with a hiss and thud on his side. You feel the sadness you hear scraping of bare-handed the sand and gravel. My favorite line is "A robin burbles from a dripping bush like the neighbor who means well but always says the wrong thing."

We scraped sand and gravel, I really liked this line because it is an imagery it shows you can hear and see scraping sand and gravel. They are sorry but doesn’t really know how to apologize.

There is an allusion where it refers to the neighbor who means well there is also an onomatopoeia of when it said they fell with a hiss.

I chose this poem because it really and descriptively shows you the sadness of burying a pet. It’s a sad time in your life that all kids have to grow up and do. It’s part of growing up, it’s just part of life.

= =

=Kalyn= =Numbers=

Mary Cornish
<span style="background-color: #00ebff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">I like the generosity of numbers.The way, for example,they are willing to countanything or anyone:two pickles, one door to the room,eight

<span style="background-color: #00ebff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">dancers dressed as swans.

<span style="background-color: #00ebff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">I like the domesticity of addition--//add two cups of milk and stir//--the sense of plenty: six plumson the ground, three morefalling from the tree.

<span style="background-color: #00ebff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">And multiplication's school of fish times fish,whose silver bodies breedbeneath the shadowof a boat.

<span style="background-color: #00ebff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Even subtraction is never loss,just addition somewhere else:five sparrows take away two,the two in someone else'sgarden now.

<span style="background-color: #00ebff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">There's an amplitude to long division,as it opens Chinese take-outbox by paper box,inside every folded cookiea new fortune.

<span style="background-color: #00ebff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">And I never fail to be surprised by the gift of an odd remainder,footloose at the end:forty-seven divided by eleven equals four,with three

<span style="background-color: #00ebff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">remaining.

<span style="background-color: #00ebff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Three boys beyond their mothers' call,two Italians off to the sea,one sock that isn't anywhere you look.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">The theme of my poem is numbers. An example of imagery is “ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';">And multiplication's school of fish times fish, whose silver bodies breed beneath the shadow of a boat.” This line showed me what she was thinking and feeling about multiplication. She used something real to describe multiplication, and to me that showed me what she meant about multiplication. <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">My favorite line in the poem was: “ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Three boys beyond their mothers' call, two Italians off to the sea, one sock that isn't anywhere you look.” That was my favorite line because the author is always comparing math to other things and I think that she tries to express the way she thinks of numbers and math in this line. In this line she is talking about an addition problem but in a real life scenario. Her comparisons are what she is thinking so they are often different. Instead of just one sock, she is adding a story to the sock, the one number in this addition problem. She uses symbols when she talks about the different things that numbers can do. An example is “ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">I like the generosity of numbers. The way, for example, they are willing to count anything or anyone: two pickles, one door to the room.” each thing she is saying stands for the generosity of numbers. I chose this poem because it is a fresh idea. I never thought of numbers the way the author of this poem does. It was fascinating to see examples that were easy to understand of numbers. =<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">**Jake** =

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

This poem talks about fire and ice and it has a lot of ryming. The theme of this poem is fire and ice and it talks about how the world will end. The imagery i found was to say that destruction of ice. My favorite line was From what ive tasted desire I hold those who favor fire. I like this because it rymes. I chose this poem because it has a lot of ryming This poem relates to growing up because it shows his struggles as a kid.

=Sadie= "Hope " By Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune--without the words,

And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Have you ever thought of what hope really is? In Emily Dickonson’s poem “Hope” she beautifully crafts her response to the subject. She symbolizes hope as a little bird that sings out songs. You can see hope as “the thing with feathers that perches on the soul” and. The poem is simple yet powerful. My favorite line is “And sore must be the storm that could abash the little bird that kept so many warm” because she’s describing this little bird that has so much effect. The storm is a symbol for people who try to undermine hope. I choose this poem because it captures what hope is in a clever and poetic way.

=Ryann=

<span style="display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Relearning Winter <span style="display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Mark Svenvold <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hello Winter, hello flanneled

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">blanket of clouds, clouds

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">fueled by more clouds, hello again.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hello afternoons,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">off to the west, that sliver

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">of sunset, rust-colored

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and gone too soon.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And night (I admit to a short memory)

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">you climb back in with chilly fingers

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and clocks, and there is no refusal:

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">ice cracks the water main, the garden hose

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">stiffens, the bladed leaves of the rhododendron

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">shine in the fog of a huge moon. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And rain, street lacquer,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">oily puddles and spinning rubber,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">mist of angels on the head of a pin,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">hello, <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and snow, upside-down cake of clouds,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">white, freon scent, you build

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">even as you empty the world of texture-

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">hello to this new relief,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">this new solitude now upon us,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">upon which we feed.

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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I read Relearning Winter by Mark Svenvold. After I finished reading the poem, I realized the theme was getting ready for Winter to come. It was also about the wrapping up of fall and the new now preparations for winter to come. My favorite line in the poem was “And at night (I admit to a short memory) you climb back in with chilly fingers and clocks, and there is no refusal.” It is my favorite line because, I can really imagine on those chilly nights snuggling into my bed and warming up my fingers and toes. I always love those chilly December night because of that. The other types of figurative language I found in the poem was: “Hello Winter” that is a hyperbole. One other type of figurative language in the poem is: “That silver sunset.” That is a simile. I chose this poem because I felt almost as if it spoke to me in a poetic way. Unlike most poems I read, before I chose this one, I actually understood the meaning behind the words. That is why I chose it. This poem relates to the theme of growing up in a different way then most poems. In the poem it does not just state out that they are getting ready for winter, growing up, the author kind of disguises it.

=Alicia= <span style="display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Our Other Sister //for Ellen// <span style="display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Jeffrey Harrison <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The cruelest thing I did to my younger sister

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">wasn't shooting a homemade blowdart into her knee,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">where it dangled for a breathless second <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">before dropping off, but telling her we had

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">another, older sister who'd gone away.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What my motives were I can't recall: a whim, <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">or was it some need of mine to toy with loss,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">to probe the ache of imaginary wounds?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But that first sentence was like a strand of DNA <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">that replicated itself in coiling lies

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">when my sister began asking her desperate questions.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I called our older sister Isabel <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and gave her hazel eyes and long blonde hair.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I had her run away to California

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">where she took drugs and made hippie jewelry. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Before I knew it, she'd moved to Santa Fe

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and opened a shop. She sent a postcard

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">every year or so, but she'd stopped calling. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I can still see my younger sister staring at me,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">her eyes widening with desolation

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">then filling with tears. I can still remember <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">how thrilled and horrified I was

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">that something I'd just made up

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">had that kind of power, and I can still feel <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">the blowdart of remorse stabbing me in the heart

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">as I rushed to tell her none of it was true.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But it was too late. Our other sister <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">had already taken shape, and we could not

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">call her back from her life far away

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">or tell her how badly we missed her.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">1. The theme of this poem is childhood and sibling quarrels.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. The imagery I found in this poem was when he described the blowdart hanging from his sister's knee. Also, when he described the blowdart stabbing him in the heart, I thought was good imagery.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. My favorite line in the poem is "as I rushed to tell her none of it was true. But it was too late. Our other sister had already taken shape, and we could not call her back from her life far away or tell her how badly we missed her." I liked that line because things like that happen often. You do something, you regret it, and then you can't take it back.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. They used a simile: "But that first sentence was like a strand of DNA that replicated itself in coiling lies." They also used a metaphor: "I can still feel the blowdart of remorse stabbing me in the heart."

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. I chose this poem because I have an older sister and I have had experiences like this with her. She has told me lies that I thought were true, and now she laughs about the fact that I believed those far-fetched tales.

=Matt T= <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The butcher knife goes in, first, at the top

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And carves out the round stemmed lid,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The hole of which allows the hand to go

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In to pull the gooey mess inside, out -

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The walls scooped clean with a spoon.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">A grim design decided on, that afternoon,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The eyes are the first to go,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Isosceles or trapezoid, the square nose,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The down-turned mouth with three

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hideous teeth and, sometimes,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Round ears. At dusk it's

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Lighted, the room behind it dark.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Outside, looking in, it looks like a

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Pumpkin, it looks like ripeness

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Is all. Kids come, beckoned by

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Fingers of shadows on leaf-strewn lawns

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">To trick or treat. Standing at the open

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Door, the sculptor, a warlock, drops

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Penny candies into their bags, knowing

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The message of winter: only the children,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Pretending to be ghosts, are real.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">1. The theme is preparing for halloween. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">2. It looks like a pumpkin. It looks like ripeness is all. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">3. Standing at the open

Door, the sculptor, a warlock, drops

Penny candies into their bags, knowing

The message of winter. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. I chose it because i like halloween and it isn't as sad and depressing as the others. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. halloween is all about kids having fun and kids.