Re: poem with metaphors

[Nancy Vait <vait3@yahoo.com>]

My favorite is "Oranges" by Gary Soto.  My seventh
graders voted it best poem one year in March Madness. 
It might be too long for memorization, but maybe you'd
consider students memorizing it in duos, trading off
groups of lines.

Oranges
Gary Soto

The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December. Frost crackling
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather.
A dog barked at me, until
She came out pulling
At her gloves, face bright
With rouge. I smiled,
Touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot and a line
Of newly planted trees,
Until we were breathing
Before a drugstore. We
Entered, the tiny bell
Bringing a saleslady
Down a narrow aisle of goods.
I turned to the candies
Tiered like bleachers,
And asked what she wanted?
Light in her eyes, a smile
Starting at the corners
Of her mouth. I fingered
A nickel in my pocket,
And when she lifted a chocolate
That cost a dime,
I didn?t say anything.
I took the nickel from
My pocket, then an orange,
And set them quietly on
The counter. When I looked up,
The lady?s eyes met mine,
And held them, knowing
Very well what it was all
About.

Outside,
A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.
I took my girl?s hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.
I peeled my orange
That was so bright against
The gray of December
That, from some distance,
Someone might have thought
I was making a fire in my hands. 

(from Modern Poems: A Norton Introduction, ed. Richard
Ellmann and Robert O?Clair, 1989, p. 860-861) 




--- SommerWind410@aol.com wrote:

> Hi all--
> Can anyone recommend a poem which would be good for
> teaching  metaphor?  I 
> will also have my students memorize and recite it,
> so I'd like  it to be of 
> reasonable length.  Sylvia Plath's "Metaphors" came
> to mind,  but I'm having 
> second thoughts on whether or not it might be
> considered  inappropriate or if it 
> would make the kids uncomfortable to recite it.  Any
>  suggestions would be 
> GREATLY appreciated!
>  
> Cathy 
> 


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