Gift of the Guest

Winter of sorrow, you arrive
and take your place at the window.
At first we do not speak.
You stand there looking out, you borrow my clothes freely.
I’m busy with my contract
to smash and cart away statuary
cast during the previous administration.
Time is short and wasting.
There’s tons of other stuff,
its gaudy paint barely dry.
You don’t notice how hard I work,
or I wouldn’t have to cook supper for both of us.
It’s true you never eat, never leave the window
(when I’m around) and do not lift your hands
except to make odd gestures
that ignore the text of my conversation.
It’s true you leave me alone,
I don’t know why you have come.
The birds do not interest you,
and you don’t hear the children when they call up to you
walking home from school.
The trees seem to grow more bare and introspective
at your glance, itself unintentional,
like the many times you shatter the window with your tongue.
You only look at me one time,
and that thick time my face is thick with plaster.
You speak then, slowly, letting the blue robe fall from your shoulders.

“You have made me laugh very much,” you say,
“In return I will leave you this table.”
And you go, and by the window is the table I have always had.

 

Ralph Adamo
from his book Hanoi Rose
New Orleans Poetry Journal Press, 1989
Used by permission of the poet.

LESSON PLANS

For an English Classroom

Lesson Plan for Ralph Adamo’s “Gift of the Guest”
By Nancy Jaynes

This poem would be better suited for a high school English class than for my middle schoolers, but I would use it as an example of two things, personification and mood.

~I would begin by posting the word “cast” on the board in the classroom, and ask the students how the word might be used in the context of artwork.

~Read the poem aloud. Have students also read the poem silently afterwards.

~Ask students to free associate the mood that they feel from this poem. Write the words on the board.

~Ask what they think is going on in this poem and allow the discussion to go on for a bit.

~Then post the word “personification” on the board and ask for a definition/examples.

~I’d share some of Emily Dickenson’s poems, such as “The Sky is Low” and “The Train,” and use them as examples of personification.

~ Return to Ralph Adamo’s “Gift of the Guest,” and read aloud again.

~ Have students partner up to share ideas of what might be personified in this poem. Partner groups then share with the class.

For a History/Social Studies Classroom

Lesson Plan for Ralph Adamo’s “Gift of the Guest”
By Sarah Ocmand

The simple things are often not appreciated, like a table. It holds things we value; it can be a tool; we sit around it as a family and share. So as time slips away we regret all the small things which we have ignored while working so hard to get all the material things that we value in our youth.

Social Studies:
Before passing the poem out in class, begin by making a list of items that have been handed down. This could begin with a family discussion as a homework assignment.

What items (furniture, clothes, jewelry, books, etc.) have been passed down? Is there a difference between furniture and clothes and books?

What one item do you now own that you most treasure? If you could no longer keep it, who would you want to take care of it?

What one item do you most take for granted, but that you use frequently? like a table, chair, a plate or bowl, a skillet.

After this, have students read the poem aloud.

After reading the poem, have students choose one object from their lists and write a poem about that object or a poem that mentions that object.

For an Art Classroom

Lesson Plan for Ralph Adamo’s “Gift of the Guest”
By Sarah Ocmand

The simple things are often not appreciated, like a table. It holds things we value; it can be a tool; we sit around it as a family and share. So as time slips away we regret all the small things which we have ignored while working so hard to get all the material things that we value in our youth.

Before passing the poem out in class, have students take pictures of items that have been handed down. down. This could begin with a family discussion as a homework assignment.

What items (furniture, clothes, jewelry, books, etc.) have been passed down? Is there a difference between furniture and clothes and books?

What one item do you now own that you most treasure? If you could no longer keep it, who would you want to take care of it?

What one item do you most take for granted, but that you use frequently? like a table, chair, a plate or bowl, a skillet.

After this, have students read the poem aloud. Then choose one of the pictures (it can be someone else’s picture). Attach an emotion to the item, and have them draw, paint, collage, make that item in the picture come to life and show how it is perceived and how it perceives itself.

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