Small Town with One Road, by Gary Soto :: Small Town with One Road

A. Title The title of this poem suggests that it is about a small country town with one road, most likely in the spunk of nowhere. Very few people and very few things around for a person to do with their free time. B. Paraphrase We could be here. This is the valley and its avenue which rabbits cant hurt across but kids can. They jump to the store with sweetness on their tongues. They watch for fun. Dimes fall from their palms to pay for the candies they eat on the way home. There are gobs of dogs and cats and chickens at the house. A pot bangs and water runs in the kitchen, beans are getting cooked for dinner. Brown soup for the the men who earn the handle. No matter what race, its heavy(p) for anyone who does work in the fields. The cotton gin is a major factor in the money dream and the mill makes money for a wife-and maybe my wife, who box peaches and plums and hoed her dads fields as a girl. We could go back. I could lose this easy job I have. Just talking and using a sh ovel, a hoe, a tangle that takes everything away. All my daughter does is worry. She touches my hand and we eat puff cones from a roadside vendor in the shade while we look around. Behind dark glasses I see where I once was. A brow kid getting across the road. hes like me, I tell my daughter and she stops eat her snow cone. He looks both was then leaps across the road where riches happen on red tongues.C. ConnotationsThe poem is written in free poetize with no rhyme or rhythm to be found. The speaker is seeing himself in someone elses actions like a flash back to the time when he was at that age. The poet uses a metaphor to describe the kids as Spectators of fun. Gary Soto also uses personification when he states that the, pot bangs and water runs... D. AttitudeThe speaker is a father, a histrion of the fields. His bearing is one of childishness and relaxation. He is eating snow cones with his daughter and talking about when he was a kid and now as an adult. The military ca pability of the poet is that this is in force(p) the way of life in the small towns and the farming towns are pretty much all boring and monotonous. down in the mouth Town with One Road, by Gary Soto Small Town with One RoadA. Title The title of this poem suggests that it is about a small country town with one road, most likely in the middle of nowhere. Very few people and very few things around for a person to do with their free time. B. Paraphrase We could be here. This is the valley and its highway which rabbits cant get across but kids can. They jump to the store with sweetness on their tongues. They watch for fun. Dimes fall from their palms to pay for the candies they eat on the way home. There are lots of dogs and cats and chickens at the house. A pot bangs and water runs in the kitchen, beans are getting cooked for dinner. Brown soup for the the men who work the fields. No matter what race, its hard for anyone who does work in the fields. The cotton gin is a major factor in the money dream and the mill makes money for a wife-and maybe my wife, who boxed peaches and plums and hoed her dads fields as a girl. We could go back. I could lose this easy job I have. Just talking and using a shovel, a hoe, a broom that takes everything away. All my daughter does is worry. She touches my hand and we eat snow cones from a roadside vendor in the shade while we look around. Behind sunglasses I see where I once was. A brow kid getting across the road. hes like me, I tell my daughter and she stops eating her snow cone. He looks both was then leaps across the road where riches happen on red tongues.C. ConnotationsThe poem is written in free verse with no rhyme or rhythm to be found. The speaker is seeing himself in someone elses actions like a flash back to the time when he was at that age. The poet uses a metaphor to describe the kids as Spectators of fun. Gary Soto also uses personification when he states that the, pot bangs and water runs... D. AttitudeThe spe aker is a father, a worker of the fields. His attitude is one of childishness and relaxation. He is eating snow cones with his daughter and talking about when he was a kid and now as an adult. The attitude of the poet is that this is just the way of life in the small towns and the farming towns are pretty much all boring and monotonous.