Name:
David Mason’s poetry (someone record group notes on this sheet of paper)
- Read the poem aloud to the group
- What is the poem about – describe the situation.
- Underline significant word choice (diction) in the poem and how do these words contribute to the feeling/tone of the poem? What effect do they create?
- What do you notice about the structure and syntax of the poem? How does this contribute to the tone or meaning and effect?
- What imagery (sensory or visual images) do you notice in the poem and how do these images contribute to the feeling/tone?
- What figurative language (symbolism, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification…) do you notice in the poem and what effect does it create?
- What do you think is the larger meaning or theme communicated here? What does the poet want us to learn or feel? Why was it written?
- What did you like and dislike about this poem?
- Is this a “good” poem? Why/why not?
Reflection after presentations: What do you notice about this poet’s style? What questions would you ask this poet if you had a chance to talk?
Fathers and Sonsby David Mason 2009
Some things, they say,
one should not write about. I tried
to help my father comprehend
the toilet, how one needs
to undo one’s belt, to slide
one’s trousers down and sit,
but he stubbornly stood
and would not bend his knees.
I tried again
to bend him toward the seat,
and then I laughed
at the absurdity. Fathers and sons.
How he had wiped my bottom
half a century ago, and how
I would repay the favor
if he would only sit.
Don’t you—
he gripped me, trembling, searching for my eyes.
Don’t you—but the word
was lost to him. Somewhere
a man of dignity would not be laughed at.
He could not see
it was the crazy dance
that made me laugh,
trying to make him sit
when he wanted to stand.
Song of the PowersBy David Mason
Mine, said the stone,
mine is the hour.
I crush the scissors,
such is my power.
Stronger than wishes,
my power, alone.
Mine, said the paper,
mine are the words
that smother the stone
with imagined birds,
reams of them, flown
from the mind of the shaper.
Mine, said the scissors,
mine all the knives
gashing through paper’s
ethereal lives;
nothing’s so proper
as tattering wishes.
As stone crushes scissors,
as paper snuffs stone
and scissors cut paper,
all end alone.
So heap up your paper
and scissor your wishes
and uproot the stone
from the top of the hill.
They all end alone
as you will, you will.Song of the Powers
Song of the Powers
Mine, said the stone,
mine is the hour.
I crush the scissors,
such is my power.
Stronger than wishes,
my power, alone.
Mine, said the paper,
mine are the words
that smother the stone
with imagined birds,
reams of them, flown
from the mind of the shaper.
Mine, said the scissors,
mine all the knives
gashing through paper’s
ethereal lives;
nothing’s so proper
as tattering wishes.
As stone crushes scissors,
as paper snuffs stone
and scissors cut paper,
all end alone.
So heap up your paper
and scissor your wishes
and uproot the stone
from the top of the hill.
They all end alone
as you will, you will.