Noland

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** Flounder **  By Natasha Trethewey

//Here //, she said, //put this on your head. // She handed me a hat. //You ’bout as white as your dad, // //and you gone stay like that. //

Aunt Sugar rolled her nylons down around each bony ankle, and I rolled down my white knee socks letting my thin legs dangle,

circling them just above water and silver backs of minnows flitting here then there between <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">the sun spots and the shadows.

//<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">This is how you hold the pole // //<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">to cast the line out straight. // //<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">Now put that worm on your hook, // //<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">throw it out and wait. //

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">She sat spitting tobacco juice <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">into a coffee cup. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">Hunkered down when she felt the bite, <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">jerked the pole straight up

<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">reeling and tugging hard at the fish <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">that wriggled and tried to fight back. //<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">A flounder, //<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">she said, and //<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">you can tell // //<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">’cause ////<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;"> one of its sides is black. //

//<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">The other side is white //<span style="color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%;">, she said. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">It landed with a thump. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">I stood there watching that fish flip-flop, <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #215868; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: -12pt;">switch sides with every jump.

O r i g i n a l P o e m s

<span style="color: #ff0066; font-family: Harrington; font-size: 48px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 72px;">I Am……
By: Noland Butler I Am……. your unwanted friend I WONDER … why you don’t like me. I HEAR … you talk behind my back I SEE … you ignoring me I WORRY …that you don’t like me  I WANT … to have a conversation with you

I PRETEND … I don’t care I FEEL … sad and lonely I TOUCH … pictures of us laughing in our happiest moments I WORRY …that you and I are like a shattered picture I CRY …when tell rumors about me I AM … your unwanted friend

I UNDERSTAND …that you have other friends I SAY … can you help me with homework I DREAM …you will say yes I HOPE … that one day you will want to be my friend I AM … your unwanted friend

Poetry Techniques "I Am..... your unwanted friend" is an example of repetition and tone. " I WORRY …that you and I are like a shattered picture " is an example of a simile.

A Cold Winter Morning By: Noland Butler

On a cold winter morning at the break of dawn, The frost clings to my window made of glass All human life seems to be gone

A fawn prances through the lawn and the falling snow clings to the frozen grass On a cold winter morning at the break of dawn,

The golden sun shaped like an eye slowly lifts itself into the sky, this is what was sawn The streets are empty and no one seems to pass All human life seems to be gone

The fawn has disappeared, it is from this scene that it has withdrawn The only vegetation that is left uncovered is the tall cheat grass On a cold winter morning at the break of dawn,

The landscape in front of me starts to get boring, and I try to stop myself before I yawn It seems like the world is still asleep, as I stare hoping someone will forpass All human life seems to be gone

I cannot keep myself from a yawn I wish someone would overpass On a cold winter morning at the break of dawn, All human life seems to be gone

Poetry Techniques "T he golden sun shaped like an eye slowly lifts itself into the sky" is an example of hyperbole. "All human life seems to be gone" is an example of repetition