Poetry Resource 1.24

Question What are some of your most vivid family memories? They might include a raucous pillow fight with your sister or a rained-out picnic with your cousins. These memories can take a special shape in your mind; some might linger as stories to tell, but others might remain simply a series of images. Task: choose a memory involving someone close to you and write a brief sketch of your recollection. Include sensory details as well as events that present a clear picture of your subject.

The following poems contain such images, boiled down to their essential qualities.

My Papa’s Waltz BY THEODORE ROETHKE The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother’s countenance Could not unfrown itself. The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle. You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt. What is happening in the first two lines of the poem ? How does the boy react to this? What does this say about the boys reaction? What feelings does it convey? How does the speaker feel about his bedtime waltz with his father? Explain why you think as you do.

Read these next two poems on your own, conduct a close read, and answer the questions. I ASK MY MOTHER TO SING Li-Young Lee She begins, and my grandmother joins her. Mother and daughter sing like young girls. If my father were alive, he would play His accordion and swing like a boat. I've never been in Peking, or the Summer Palace, nor stood on the great Stone Boat to watch the rain begin on Kuen Ming Lake, the picnickers running away in the grass. But I love to hear it sung: how the waterlilies fill with rain until they overturn, spilling water into water, then rock back, and fill with more. Both women have begun to cry, But neither stops her song. 1. Reread lines 5-9. How is the speaker able to describe images of a place he’s never seen? Describe the feelings evoked by the images. 2. Why do the speaker’s mother and grandmother start to cry during their song?

Dad appears with his masterpiece – swirled snow, gelled light. “Grape Sherbet” Rita Dove The Day? Memorial. After the grill Dad appears with his masterpiece – swirled snow, gelled light. We cheer. The recipe’s a secret and he fights a smile, his cap turned up so the bib resembles a duck. That morning we galloped through the grassed-over mounds and named each stone for a lost milk tooth. Each dollop of sherbet, later, is a miracle, like salt on a melon that makes it sweeter. Everyone agrees – it’s wonderful! It’s just how we imagined lavender would taste. The diabetic grandmother stares from the porch, a torch of pure refusal. We thought no one was lying there under our feet, we thought it was a joke. I’ve been trying to remember the taste, but it doesn’t exist. Now I see why you bothered, father Questions on the next page ->

What is the poem about? Who is the speaker? What other characters are involved? Where does the poem take place? What event or situation is described? What is the main idea or message of the poem? Why do you think the speaker remembers this particular day? How has the way the speaker thinks about her father’s homemade sherbet changed over time? What does “I’ve been trying / to remember the taste, / but it doesn’t exist” mean? Find all examples of figurative language in “Grape Sherbet.” What imagery stands out to you? Find 2 examples. Reread lines 18- 21. What does the image of the grandmother suggest about her actions? What feeling is the speaker expressing in this poem?