Poetry Anthology

Grant Adelson
Mrs. Heisers Class
6th Period

Poetry has the ability to bring people together. They can share many common

ideas and themes, including family or relationships. The love from family and friends

is something all individuals can relate to, whether positive or negative. The

following poems all demonstrate the universal ide of family or relationships.

Abuelito Who by Sandra Cisneros, In Response to Executive Order 9066 by

Dwight Okita, Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde, and Mother to Son by Langston

Hughes all show how important love from another is to ones overall life.

In Abuelito Who by Sandra Cisneros, the narrator talks about her memories

with her grandpa. Now she cant create anymore because he isnt with her

anymore. Cisneros uses a lot of metaphors to compare her grandpa to things the

reader would be familiar with. For the first 12 lines, the narrator describes her

grandpa in positive ways, but in line 13 when she says, is sick the mood changes

and makes the audience look differently at Abuelito. She then talks about all the

things that he cant do, and the things he does to her, like talk to her in her head.

For example the narrator says, is tired shut the door/doesnt live here anymore/is

hiding underneath the bed (lines 15-17). This shows some of the things that the

grandfather cannot do anymore. He is either dead now, or he is in a state where he

loses touch with the rest of the world and isnt himself anymore. She compares

Abuelito to other things too like in line 1, Who throws coins like rain or whose hair

is made of fur in line 5. He is compared to things that the narrator likes here.
Cisneros used metaphors to show how much ones family is missed when they lose

connection with them.

The poem In Response to Executive Order 9066 by Dwight Okita also

discusses the idea of relationships. It uses the poetic device of allusion to help get

its message across to the audience. It tells the story of two young girls during World

War II. The narrator is from Japanese and her friend is a white American. They have

a unique relationship, with lots of jokes and teases. When japan bombed Pearl

Harbor, the narrators friend started to accuse the narrator of giving away

information to the Enemy. She gets treated like shes causing all of the destruction,

but in reality she is just a normal American citizen. She tries to convince the

audience that she is American when she says, I will tell you/I have always felt

funny using chopsticks/and my favorite food is hot dogs (lines 7-9). She tries to tell

all people that read her poem that she is a true American. Her relationship with her

friend wasnt one that was true. However, at this point in history, it seems like the

white person is always better than any other ethnic background. This is shown by

the narrator when she says, I know the back of Denises head very well (line 13).

She is so used to being behind people like Denise, that it seems normal now. This

poem clearly uses allusion to show that relationships can be questioned easily when

two individuals are very different.

The third poem Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde has a lot to do with the

concept of family as well. She uses repletion to sow how empty the narrator fees

without an adult helping her through life. The narrator explains to the reader the

trouble with growing up. She is struggling to grow because shes not sure how to.

She doesnt have an adult teaching her about life, so she feels really insecure about

herself. This is shown in the poem with this quote, I should have been on the Math
Team/my marks were better than his/why do I have to be/the one/wearing braces

(lines 26-30). She goes off on all of the things that arent working out for her in her

life. This is so bad and devastating for her, that she even considers dying to get out

of it. In the poem it states, what if I die/before morning (lines 8-9) and suppose I

die before graduation (line 15). She clearly sounds like she would rather die than

go through life without guidance. In the poem there is also repetition of the words,

and mommas in the bedroom/with the door closed. She says this after every

stanza, reminding the reader that she is doing everything on her own. Lorde uses

repetition in the poem Hanging Fire to emphasize how much an adult figures

impact a childs life growing up.

The final poem, Mother to Son by Langston Hughes, talks about a mothers

perspective on life. Hughes uses an extended metaphor to tell the reader how life

isnt as easy as it looks. The mother in the story writes to her son, telling him her

experiences with life and not to give up when things get hard. She tells him that life

is tough, and it was tough for her too, and she overcame them. In the poem she

says, Ise still climbin/And life for me aint been no crystal stair (lines 19-20). She

is telling her son that things for her have been hard, and she is still pushing

through, and there is no reason for him not to also. By the way she is talking, it

sounds like she is an African American from the South, most likely during the slave

era. This makes sense because all people know about the suffering slaves had to go

through from the 1600s to the mid-1800s. This can be supported by this quote in

the poem, Its had tacks in it, /And splinters, /And boards torn up, /And places with

no carpet on the floor-/Bare (lines 3-7). This can be taken as a metaphor, or literal,

knowing slaves background. Regardless, Hughes wanted the reader to get the main
point, which is never give up even when things in life get hard. Clearly, having an

adult figure allows a child to have knowledge of what to prepare for in the future.

All of the poems in this anthology about Family/Relationships gives the reader

knowledge about why it is important to have an adult figure, or a good friend, in

your life. This idea is carried out through all four poems in this anthology. Obviously,

having someone in your life you can look to for guidance or love is important to

ones self-esteem. If you, or someone you know, is having a tough time with

relationships, or would really like to see other peoples perspectives on the topic, I

hope this anthology will suit you.