The

Girl Who Loved the Sky

Anita Endrezze

Outside the second-grade room,
The jacaranda tree blossomed
Into purple lanterns, the papery petals
Drifted, darkening the windows.
5 Inside, the room smelled like glue.
The desks were made of yellowed wood,
The tops littered with eraser rubbings,
Rulers, and big fat pencils.
Colored chalk meant special days,
10 The walls were covered with precise
Bright tulips and charts with shiny stars
By certain names. There, I learned
How to make butter by shaking a jar
Until the pale cream clotted
15 Into one sweet mass. There, I learned
That numbers were fractious beasts
With dens like dim zeros. And there,
Tasted like cold metal when it rained
20 And those eyes were always covered
With the bruised petal of her lids.
She loved the formless sky, defined
Only by sounds, or the cool umbrellas
Of clouds. On hot, still days
25 We listened to the sky falling
Like chalk dust. We heard the noon
Whistle of the pig-mash factory,
Smelled the sourness of homebound men.
I had no farther; she had no eyes;
30 We were best friends. The other girls
Drew shaky hopscotch squares
On the dusty asphalt, talked about
Pajama parties, weekend cookouts,
And parents who bought sleek-finned cars.
35 Alone, we sat in the canvas swings,
Our shoes digging into the sand, then pushing,
Until we flew high over their heads,
Our hand streaked with red rust
From the chains that kept us safe.
40 I was born blind, she said, an at of nature.
Sure, I thought, like birds born
Without wings, trees without roots.
I didn’t understand. The day she moved
 I saw the world clearly; the sky
45 Backed away from me like a departing father.
I sat under the jacaranda, catching
The petals in my palm, enclosing them
Until my fist was another lantern
49 Hiding a small and bitter flame.


Directions: Please choose the best answer of the four.

1. The speaker in his poem is-
A. A blind woman looking back at her lonely childhood
B. A popular girl in second grade
C. A girl who felt like an outsider
D. A child who grew up feeling uneasy in the natural world

2. In line 35, “ Alone, we sat in the canvas swings,” the poet uses the word alone to
convey that the speaker and the blind girl-
A. Have lost their parents
B. Are separated from their classmates
C. Are not supervised by their teacher
D. Are independent, self-confident children

3. The poet uses the word papery in the imagery “the papery petals/drifted” (lines
3-4) to show that the petals are-
A. White
B. Stiff
C. Lightweight
D. Heavy

4. An example of a metaphor in this poem is-
A. “The pale cream clotted” (14)
B. “The walls were covered with precise/bright tulips” (10-11)
C. “I saw the world clearly” (44)
D. “My first was another lantern” (48)

5. An example of implied metaphor is-
A. “The desks were made of yellowed wood, the tops littered with eraser
rubbings” (6-7)
B. “And those eyes were always covered with the bruised petals of her lids” (20-
21)
C. “Dens like dim zeros” (17)
D. “ The jacaranda tree blossomed” (2)



6. Which phrase does not include alliteration?
A. “Our hands streaked with red rust”(38)
B. “The cool umbrellas of clouds” (23-24)
C. “Whistle of the pig-mash factory” (27)
D. “Birds born without wings” (41-42)

7. “The sky backed away from me like a departing father” (44-45) is an example of
simile and-
A. Rhyme
B. Metaphor
C. Onomatopoeia
D. Personification

8. Why does the speaker say, “the sky backed away from me like a departing father”
(44-45)?
A. She is describing an approaching storm
B. The blind girl loves the sky, and the speaker feels that the girl’s leaving is like
the loss of her father.
C. She is swinging and feeling sad as she thinks about her father
D. She thinks her friend’s blindness is unnatural, like a sky that moves away from
you

9. This poem is a-
A. Sonnet
B. Haiku
C. Ballad
D. Free-verse poem

10. Which word best describes the speaker’s tone in this poem?
A. Playful
B. Sarcastic
C. Sad
D. Encouraging

11. What details does Endrezze use to create an image of a second grade classroom
in lines 5-12?
A. Smelled like glue
B. Bright tulips
C. Shiny stars
D. Charts





12. What words and phrases does the poet use in these lines to create a melancholy,
or somber, tone in lines 18-28?
A. Cold metal
B. Bruised petals
C. Formless sky
D. All of the above
Folding Won Tons In
Abraham Chang

I’ve seasoned the pork just as I imagine my mother
would-
sesame oil, ginger, pepper,
scallions chopped imperfectly.
Sheets of doughy skin,
I only have the skill
to buy

Thumb and forefinger peel
each tender, white scarp of noodle
from the clinging stack.
I pat their centers pink
with fragrant spoonfuls
the color of fat sun in October

Mimicking my memory:
A twist, a tuck a folding over-
a finger lick of water to seal
my misshapen flowers.

My hands powerdusted;
acquainted with each new blossom,
I line them up
like newborns huddled
together, waiting to be fed
to their distant fathers.

The soup bubbles to overflowing,
I slide the dumplings in
and stir them in the dizzy descent

Drowned, swollen,
and glistening stream hidden
for an instant-

I set them on the table
and decide how many
I will save
for one more day.




30. A won ton is-
A. hunger for Chinese food
B. a Chinese style dumpling
C. a son’s memories of his mother
D. the use of words to describe cooking

31. The phrase “the color of the fat sun in October” at the end of the poem’s second
stanza refers to-
A. the speaker’s memories from childhood
B. the color of pork filling
C. the color of the cooking surface
D. his cheeks, flushed from hard work

32. In the third stanza of the poem, the speaker uses the phrase “misshapen flower”
to refer to-
A. the pork he has seasoned incorrectly
B. the store where he bought “sheets of doughy skin”
C. the won tons he has just made
D. a memory from childhood he cannot forget

33. The speaker talks about “newborns” in the fourth stanza of the poem. The
phrase in the stanza that has a similar meaning is-
A. “hands powdered”
B. “new blossom”
C. “waiting to be fed”
D. “distant fathers”

34. In the fourth stanza, the “newborns huddled” are-
A. eaten for dinner
B. thrown away
C. saved for one more day
D. placed in boiling soup

35. How does the speaker feel in the last stanza?
A. He looks forward to eating the won-ton soup he has made
B. The newborns do not survive, which saddens him.
C. Disappointed, he gives up on recipe.
D. He feels defeated and drowns in his sorrows

36. The speaker’s attitude at the end of the poem might be best described as-
A. fearing that he will have little food for the future
B. worrying that his mother will not be proud of his cooking skills
C. feeling indifferent about his family and its Chinese traditions
D. savoring and prolonging his successful attempt to cook for himself


37. An alternative title that fits the theme of the poem is-
A. “Surviving on Traditions”
B. “Forget the Past”
C. “The Future Is a New Day”
D. “Hurry Up and Catch Up”

38. A simile-
A. is a comparison between two similar things
B. uses a connective word to compare two unlike things
C. is a comparison of two unlike things
D. is the personification of objects

39. In a metaphor-
A. two unlike things are compared
B. more than two things act like living beings
C. two things are compared with words like or as
D. memories are made to seem like current events

40. The simile in “Folding Won Ton’s In” compares-
A. the sun and color pink
B. flowers and blossoms
C. fresh won tons and newborns
D. cooked won tons and memories

41. Why is a metaphor a stronger statement than a simile?
A. Metaphors are more imaginative than similes.
B. Metaphors make a more direct comparison.
C. Metaphors tell the truth wile similes don’t.
D. Similes compare more than two things.