Name: _____________________

Slam Poetry
8/3/16

I think
How could God bless him
with seizures and autism.
Why every time we rush him to the hospital
it could be my last day watching
him rewind on-demand
until his lips can curve
to form words
that aren't even his because my mother gave
Now (5
min) (10 points)
himDo
a broken
X chromosome.
Who is someone you Today,
took care of? What did you do to care for that person?
(ForI will
example:
a friend, family member)
smile
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As he learns to brush his teeth for the first time
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or obsesses over his red pants and shirts,
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I will laugh as he tries to learn sign language
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to make up for tongue lost in Fragile-X
CODY
Syndrome
Will he remember
By Nova Venerable
and I will accept his fake kisses
how he slept in my bed every
My youngest brother was born
like disorders.
night
with my grandfather's nose
But I can't help but wonder
after mama left,
round like spools of thread,
Can his brain still hold the times
and I held him like an extra
my father's eyes and
I meshed his food up when he was 8 pillow.
my mother's genes.
or changed his diapers at 7.
Or when my arms were his
He is 12 years old now and
Will he miss me
restraints
I watch him play
when I am not there to run my fingers when daddy said put him in
Hungry Hungry Hippos,
through his hair like Pink Oil
middle
see his body jitters like a wind up toy
when he wakes up from
without seatbelt so he would
and he screams like a happy crow
ear tube surgeries or seizures.
be the
when he asks me to play with him.
first to die in car accident.
He tries to learn the words
Can he know how he found
to the Scooby-doo song,
a mother in big sister?
repeats the phrases my mother
For now,
and I say, and when I see him,
I will pray for him every night
I wonder how could God know that
that his kidneys will stop trying
Diabetes peels 27 years of life
to fail on us,
like dead skin.
that his blood sugar won't
Yet he still allows my brother
send him into
to have his fingers pricked
a coma.
every day.
I hope
Why is it when I look
that he wont grow
at him, I can see every needle
accustomed
we've ever had to stick
his arms, legs, or stomach with
to keep him alive.
Sometimes five shots a day
isn't enough to fight juvenile diabetes.

Name: _____________________

Slam Poetry
8/3/16

Literary Techniques (10 min) (40 points)

1. Similes compare one thing with another thing using the word as or like
a. Example: round like spools of thread
b. Your Example:
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2. Sensory language is language that connects to the five senses (sight, sound,
smell, taste, touch) to create an image or description.
a. Example: diabetes peels 27 years of life like dead skin
i. Which of the five senses is this related to?
_____________________________________
b. Your Example:
_________________________________________________________________
i. Which of the five senses is this related to?
_____________________________________
3. Theme the main idea or meaning of a piece of writing.
a. How can we find the theme?
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____________________________________________________________________________________
Simile Practice (Find at least 4 different examples)
Simile
Similarities in Similes
Theme
Underline in Your Poem
Many of the similes talk
Meaning of Poem
about

Sensory Language (Find at least 4 different examples)

Sensory Language
Which Sense?
Theme
Underline in Your Poem
See, Hear, Smell, Taste,
Meaning of Poem
Touch

What is the theme and how do you know? Cite at least 3 lines from the poem that tell
you the meaning.

Name: _____________________

Slam Poetry

8/3/16
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