Murry Bergtraum High School
English 4/Ms. Scragg/Spring 2003
"My Papa's Waltz," 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.
"When Ure Hero Falls," Tupac Shakur
4 My Hero (My Mother)
when your hero falls from grace
all fairy tales are uncovered
myths exposed and pain magnified
the greatest pain discovered
you taught me to be strong
but I'm confused to see you so weak
you said never to give up
and it hurts to see you welcome defeat
when your Hero falls so do the stars
and so does the perception of tomorrow
without my Hero there is only
me alone to deal with my sorrow.
your Heart ceases to work
and your soul is not happy at all
what are you expected to do
when ure only Hero falls
"Those Winter Sundays," Robert Hayden
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?
"Learning to Drive at 32," Allison Joseph
I should have learned to do this years ago:
maneuver a car in and out of traffic,
gliding my vehicle swiftly down the highway
as if I'd been doing it all my life, as if
I hadn't been crouched in the back seat
those Sunday afternoons my father tried
to teach my mother to drive: no, woman,
you daft or something, I swear I'll leave
you right here-his voice filling the car
as she fumbled with the wheel, hands clumsy,
car lurching then stopping as she fought
for control. I should have learned before
now, at thirty-two, my driver's ed vehicle
careening into a parked van, my foot
stuck on the accelerator I think is the brake,
hands atrophied on the wheel, my instructor
slamming his foot on the second brake
as we crash, metal on metal, impact
fracturing the van's windshield to a web
of damage. Should have known I'd make
a mess of this-going too fast or too slow,
not looking left and right, wrong foot on the brake.
I shouldn't have remembered-my father,
still calling her stupid, my mother, head
down, arms folded, not saying anything
except all right, all right, you drive.
"My House," Nikki Giovanni
I only want to
be there to kiss you
as you want to be kissed
when you need to be kissed
where I want to kiss you
cause it's my house and I plan to live in it
I really need to hug you
when I want to hug you
as you like to hug me
does this sound like a silly poem
I mean it's my house
and I want to fry pork chops
and bake sweet potatoes
and call them yams
cause I run the kitchen
and I can stand the heat
I spent all winter in
carpet stores gathering
patches so I could make a quilt
does this really sound
like a silly poem
I mean I want to keep you warm
and my windows might be dirty
but it's my house
and if I can't see out sometimes
they can't see in either
English isn't a good language
to express emotion through
mostly I imagine because people
try to speak English instead
of trying to speak through it
I don't know maybe it is
a silly poem
I'm saying it's my house
and I'll make fudge and call it love
and touch my lips
to the chocolate warmth
and smile at old men and call
it revolution cause what's real
is really real
and I still like men in tight pants
cause everybody has something to give
and more important
needs something to take
and this is my house and you make me happy
so this is your poem
"For No One," Lennon & McCartney
Your day breaks, your mind aches
You find that all her words of kindness linger on
When she no longer needs you
She wakes up, she makes up
She takes her time and doesn't feel she has to hurry
She no longer needs you
And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years
You want her, you need her
And yet you don't believe her when she said her love is dead
You think she needs you
You stay home, she goes out
She says that long ago she knew someone but now he's gone
She doesn't need him
Your day breaks, your mind aches
There will be time when all the things she said will fill your
head
You won't forget her
And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years