This week we’re going to focus on free verse poetry. Specifically, I’d like you to choose one of the poems from chapter 20 and write an original response about it. What stands out to you about the poem? What are some of the literary devices at work in the poem? Why do you think the poet chose to write the poem in free verse rather than as, for example, a sonnet or villanelle? These questions are intended to serve as a jumping off point. I invite you to discuss what interests you most about your chosen poem.

Michael Ryan (B. 1946)

I  2013

When did I learn the word “I”?

What a mistake. For some,

it may be a placeholder,

for me it’s a contagion.

For some, it’s a thin line, a bare wisp,5

just enough to be somewhere

among the gorgeous troublesome you’s.

For me, it’s a thorn, a spike, its slimness

a deceit, camouflaged like a stick insect:

touch it and it becomes what it is:10

ravenous slit, vertical cut, little boy

standing upright in his white

communion suit and black secret.