Tackling the poetry prompt - Mr. Albert's English Class ...



Summarize each of the following poems, then identify and characterize the relationship between object and family the speaker is reflecting upon in each poem. “The Black Walnut Tree” By Mary OliverMy mother and I debate:we could sellthe black walnut treeto the lumberman,and pay off the mortgage.Likely some storm anywaywill churn down its dark boughs,smashing the house. We talkslowly, two women tryingin a difficult time to be wise.Roots in the cellar drains,I say, and she repliesthat the leaves are getting heavierevery year, and the fruitharder to gather away.But something brighter than moneymoves in our blood–an edgesharp and quick as a trowelthat wants us to dig and sow.So we talk, but we don't doanything. That night I dreamof my fathers out of Bohemiafilling the blue fieldsof fresh and generous Ohiowith leaves and vines and orchards.What my mother and I both knowis that we'd crawl with shamein the emptiness we'd madein our own and our fathers' backyard.So the black walnut treeswings through another yearof sun and leaping winds,of leaves and bounding fruit,and, month after month, the whip-crack of the mortgage.“The Myth of Music”for my fatherBy Rachel M. Harper?If music can be passed onlike brown eyes or a strongleft hook, this melodyis my inheritance, lineage tracedthrough a title track,displayed on an album coverthat you pin to the wallas art, oral history taughton a record player, the lessonssealed into the grooves like fact.This is the only myth I know.I sit on the hardwoodfloors of a damp November,my brother dealing cardsfrom an incomplete deck,and I don’t realize that thismoment is the definitionof family, collective memorycut in rough-textured tones,the voice of a horn so familiarI don’t know I’m listening,Don’t know I’m singing,a child’s improvisationof Giant Steps or Impressions:1songs without lyricscan still be sung.?In six months, when my motheris 2,000 miles away, decidingif she wants to come home,I will have forgottenthis moment, the securityof her footsteps, the warmthof a radiator on my back and youpresent in the sound of typingyour own accompaniment,multiphonics disguised as chordsin a distant room, speakers seton high to fill the whole housewith your spirit, your callas a declaration of love.?But the music will remain.The timeless notes of jazztoo personal to play out loud,stay locked in the rhythmof my childhood, memories fadinglike the words of a lullaby,come to life in a saxophone’s blow.They lie when they saymusic is universal—this is my song,the notes like fingerprintsas delicate as breath.I will not share this airwith anyonebut you.?1Giant Steps is a jazz album (1960) by John Coltrane. Impressions (1963) is another album by Coltrane. ................
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