analyzing a poem by: shelby spencer

My poem is called knock-knock by: Daniel Beaty what is my poem about? My poem is called knock-knock by: Daniel Beaty Knock-knock is about a young boy losing his father at young age. But the father isn’t dead instead he is in jail and his father isn't going home for a home for long time. “My momma takes me on a ride past corn fields in this never, highway ’til we reach a place of high” This young boy doesn't understand at time why his father isn't coming home, so when the young boy is an adult he is writing/explaining to his childhood self the reason why his father never came home.

Is there a story/meaning behind the poem?(1) In my opinion knock-knock has full of emotion in the poem because, the Author is talking about how his child self used to play a game with his father and that game is called knock-knock. In the poem i think there is word play using knock-knock because, at the beginning of the poem the said “As a boy I shared a game with my father Played it every morning 'til I was 3 He would knock knock on my door And I'd pretend to be asleep 'til he got right next to the be Then I would get up and jump into his arms "Good morning, Papa.” And my papa he would tell me that he loved me We shared a game Knock Knock” Knock! Knock! Who’s there? Wanda, Wanda who? Wanda hang out with me right now? That is a type of a knock-knock joke. but the one in the poem is missing the last bit because, when the father is knocking on his son’s door the author said “knock-knock” so that tell’s me that the author is using a game to try to put the puzzle together.

Is there a story/meaning behind the poem?(2) In the poem Daniel, used flashbacks to make the poem stand out because its personal to him. Daniel is talking about his father and how his father went to jail, and how young Daniel didn't know what was going on. The poem is a bittersweet kind of poem because at first when you read the poem it has meaning behind it, Daniel is talking about his father so that’s a sweet moment plus at the beginning of the poem Daniel is talking about how he was 3 year old his father and him were playing a game. but when you read on the sweet moment turned into a mouldy poem/moment. “I’m forgetting who you are” Since Daniel’s father went to jail, he is having a hard time remembering who his father is. As a person, his voice and the sweet moment that they shared when Daniel was 3.

Is there a story/meaning behind the poem?(3) “We are our fathers’ sons and daughters but we are not their choices for despite their absences we are still here still alive, still breathing with the power to change this world Once little boy and girl at a time knock-knock, Who’s there? We are” This sentence stands out for me because, It’s talking about how the fathers of little boys and girls are left with no answers it’s like they are invisible but they aren't they are still alive and breathing so they want answers they don't be left in the dark. The statement “knock-knock, “Who’s there? We are.” I believe that’s talking about how the little boys and girls want answers and it’s saying we are here for a reason, we are your children so that doesn't mean that you can just leave without saying a word.

is the poem knock-knock considered a poem? Yes, Knock-Knock is considered a poem because, I annotated the poem using S.M.I.L.E and another format as well which is our class’s Spoken Word Checklist that we made up in class and the poem has almost everything checked off from the list. Does it make it a good or Bad poem I don't know that depends on the readers for example the plum poem, I think thats the worst poem I've read so far but it is a poem I don't know how it is a poem but it is. In other words knock-knock is a poem whether you like it or not its your decision.

how did the performance effect the poem over all? The performance reflected the poem good because, the author which is Daniel; his stage presents was good but really stands out is that his face showed some emotions when he was telling the poem. Daniel’s hand motions were typical because, everyone uses hands motions but what stands out was every time he said ‘knock-knock’ he does the motion as well. Also when he said “When I was trying to get my father, my mother pulled me away” he did the hand actions of his hands going to the father (away from him) and his hands going to backwards (towards him). When he says ‘So I write theses words” he says them like in the text there are bold. Daniel says them with anger almost. But his facial expression wasn’t quite an angry face it was more of a confused but angry face. All these’s things that I pointed out in the video made a different’s for me because I could picture a little boy, corn fields, his mother pulling him away all of these’s things I can now picture in my head and now when I read the story I can picture the poem and I can feel what that little boy is feeling.

how does the style of writing impact the performance When Daniel was telling his poem you could tell how the poem was and what it looked like a little bit because, if it has a story format then the author would have told it in a different way but since it was a poem and you could tell how long each paragraphs where because of the deeps breaths that the author took. Plus when you speak for a long period of time then your voice would go quieter and it would be hard to understand you because you are running out of air.

Examples of literary (figures of speech) Similes: Comparing the way that someone looks or does. E.g - “As a boy I shared a game with my father”, “ As my mama pulls me away”, “How to walk like a man”, I wanted to be just like you” Symbolism: “dribble the page with the brilliance of your ballpoint pen” which means don't just focus on sports you should also but in more effort and focus on your school work. Metaphor: It’s a figure of speech witch a word/phrase is claimed to an action or an object. E.g - “ For the lost brilliance of the black men who crowd these cells”