Name:
Date:
A Hot Property Vs. Abandoned Farmhouse
Directions: Read and annotate the following two poems and answer the questions. Come
prepared to discuss and vote on your favorite. Use complete sentences.
Poem #1: A Hot Property by Ronald Wallace
A Hot Property
I am not. I am
an also-ran,
a bridesmaid, a finalist,
a second-best bed. I am
the one they could just
as easily have given it to
but didn't.
I'm a near miss, a close second,
an understudy, a runner-up.
I'm the one who was just
edged, shaded, bested, nosed out.
I made the final cut,
the short list,
the long deliberation.
I'm good, very good,
but I'm not good enough.
I'm an alternate, a backup,
a very close decision,
a red ribbon, a handshake,
a glowing commendation.
You don't know me.
I've a dozen names,
all honorably mentioned.
I could be anybody.
Questions:
1. What are two poetic devices you see? (Provide specific lines/words)
2. How do you think the title relates to the poem?
3. What do you think is the meaning of this poem? What is the author trying to say? (Use
specific lines in your answer)
Poem #2: Abandoned Farmhouse by Ted Kooser
Abandoned Farmhouse
He was a big man, says the size of his shoes
on a pile of broken dishes by the house;
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,
says the Bible with a broken back
on the floor below the window, dusty with sun;
but not a man for farming, say the fields
cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn.
A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall
papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves
covered with oilcloth, and they had a child,
says the sandbox made from a tractor tire.
Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves
and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole.
And the winters cold, say the rags in the window frames.
It was lonely here, says the narrow country road.
Something went wrong, says the empty house
in the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields
say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars
in the cellar say she left in a nervous haste.
And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard
like branches after a storm--a rubber cow,
a rusty tractor with a broken plow,
a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say.
Questions:
4. What are two poetic devices you see? (Provide specific lines/words)
5. What are three things you learn about this family from the poem (provide specific
lines/words)
6. What do you think happened to this family? (There is no write or wrong answer, just
try to come up with a possibility based on lines in the poem)