Reading Commentary Six

After reading two poetry books and the common core standards for poetry, this assignment was meant to briefly analyze one of two chosen texts.

An excerpt from “Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid”, written by Lemony Snicket.

If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator,

He might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice,

“Well, this isn’t too bad. I don’t have my left arm anymore,

But at least nobody will ever ask me if I am right handed or left handed.”

But most of us would say something more along the lines of

“Aaaaah! My arm! My arm!”

I have chosen to be clever, and combine my explanation for the book into my own poem based upon the style of the one I chose.

Considering this book poetry is dependent upon the reader; 

It is sometimes referred to as poetry 

And sometimes referred to as an anecdotal wit and wisdom publication. 

However, if one were to consider this a book of poems, 

It would be closest to free-verse poetry, 

It is nothing like most poems and has its own rhythm

I chose this poem because fate intervened when I could not choose a favorite: 

I threw the book up in the air 

And chose whatever was written on the page that the book landed on.

I would use this book to show children how the voice of the writer can really come through in their style of writing, changing a poem from something that could have come from anyone’s mouth into something that could come from only within them.