Since that afternoon years ago
when my mother put us on our knees
and told us she was leaving,
I have placed myself in the world,
measured myself against the horizon,
let the sky cover me like some angel bird
hovering. I have seen wide ribbons
of pine making a trot-line at the earth’s edge.
I have studied things up close: stunted trees
growing out of rock. I have gone beyond
tree lines where grasses open seedpods
like prayers. I have stood at the water’s
edge and wobbled, and still no one
knows who knifed the unreadable lettering
on my mother’s new cedar chifferobe
that day. She and my father drove to town
to buy garfish for our usual Friday supper
at my aunt’s house. We were questioned again
on her return but no one confessed—through
the fish cleaning, the seasoning, the frying.
I can’t remember when exactly we laughed
and ran through the yard with our cousins.
It was night when we went home. We were happy.
Just last week, some fifty years later,
one of us brings it up in mother’s
presence. She has not walked for years
and it is no big matter to her now,
but none of us are fessing up today either.
We all know who didn’t do it,
and one of us knows who did.
Darrell Bourque
from his book Call and Response
Used by permission of the poet.
LESSON PLANS
Louisiana History
by Sarah Ocmand
This could be a perfect poem to introduce to Louisiana History students.
I love his use of commonalities to a particular region (garfish, fish cleaning, chifferrobe) and how they make a certain area.
I’d have my students read the poem more than once and circle words that identify region and time.
Then we would discuss those words and see if we could understand the word through context clues in the poem. We would then look them up in the dictionary to see if we were correct in our understanding, or to find the meaning of the words we were not able to comprehend through context clues.
My students would then brainstorm as a class or in small groups commonalities of the region they are in now and any others they know. Not all of my students are from the same region. Many have moved from other places.
I would have them respond to these questions either out loud or in a journal.
What are some things that define our own particular regions?
How can we look at our dialect, the foods we eat, the clothing we wear, and compare this to other areas in Louisiana?
What lingo do we use to describe their region or familiar places and events/ actions around them?
As a follow up, it would be fun for us to use this poem to compare our understanding of our region to Mr. Bourque’s understanding of his region from his childhood. This could be as a class discussion, a small group discussion or project, or as an individual comparison/contrast paper.
Science
by Laurie Williams
After reading the poem aloud, students would go over what they know of how seeds in a natural environment disperse. Then I would have them discuss lines ten, eleven, and twelve.
I have gone beyond
tree lines where grasses open seedpods
like prayers.
Do grasses open seedpods? Is that scientifically accurate?
In discussing the word choice in these lines, students would show their understanding of how seed dispersal.
As a follow up assignment, I would ask them to write in three lines (or one good sentence) a way to describe the event of grass or weed seed first scatters.
They could also compare and contrast the three seed and fruit dispersal methods of wind, water, and animal.
English
by Sarah Ocmand
I love his use of commonalities to a particular region (garfish, fish cleaning, chifferrobe) and how they make a certain area.
I’d have my students read the poem more than once and circle words that identify region and time.
Then we would discuss those words and see if we could understand the word through context clues in the poem. We would then look them up in the dictionary to see if we were correct in our understanding, or to find the meaning of the words we were not able to comprehend through context clues.
My students would then brainstorm as a class or in small groups commonalities of the region they are in now and any others they know. Not all of my students are from the same region. Many have moved from other places.
I would have them respond to these questions in a writing journal.
What are some things that define our own particular regions?
How can we look at our dialect, the foods we eat, the clothing we wear, and compare this to other areas in Louisiana?
What lingo do we use to describe their region or familiar places and events/ actions around them?
As a follow up, students could write a comparison/contrast paper on two different regions.
They could also write a poem about a region they know well and include the commonalities of that region.
Lesson Plan for Darrell Bourque’s “Scratch”
by Laurie Williams
I would begin by having my students read this poem once silently.
Then as a class, we would read it aloud, taking turns at each line. As it was being read aloud, I would have my students circle words they were not familiar with or that were used in an unfamiliar way. They would also underline interesting words and phrases, and make note of any part that was confusing.
Then we would look at the poem sentence by sentence. I especially love the first sentence.
Since that afternoon years ago
when my mother put us on our knees
and told us she was leaving,
I have placed myself in the world,
measured myself against the horizon,
let the sky cover me like some angel bird
hovering.
We would discuss the length of this line and note that it is the longest in the poem. Discuss our expectations for the poem, especially at the end of the third line. We would make a note of the imagery and any literary devices such as the simile in line six.
I would ask my students to tell me which of the lines, images, phrases, or even individual words drew their attention. I am particularly drawn to sentence that comprises lines ten, eleven, and twelve.
I have gone beyond
tree lines where grasses open seedpods
like prayers.
As we continued through the poem we would look at how the poem moves from the event to a type of meditation and back to the event.
At the end if I were to assign some writing, I would have them write an explication of the poem.
Or I would have them write a poem about a memory from childhood where they or a sibling, cousin, friend, etc. did something that caused a bit of a fuss. They could use Mr. Bourque’s poem as a model.