It was in an empty lot
Ringed by elms and fir and honeysuckle.
Bill Corson was pitching in his buckskin jacket,
Chuck Keller, fat even as a boy, was on first,
His t-shirt riding up over his gut,
Ron O'Neill, Jim, Dennis, were talking it up
In the field, a blue sky above them
Tipped with cirrus.
And there I was,
Just off the plane and plopped in the middle
Of Williamsport, Pa. and a neighborhood game,
Unnatural and without any moves,
My notions of baseball and America
Growing fuzzier each time I whiffed.
So it was not impossible that I,
Banished to the outfield and daydreaming
Of water, or a hotel in the mountains,
Would suddenly find myself in the path
Of a ball stung by Joe Barone.
I watched it closing in
Clean and untouched, transfixed
By its easy arc before it hit
My forehead with a thud.
I fell back,
Dazed, clutching my brow,
Groaning, "Oh my shin, oh my shin,"
And everybody peeled away from me
And dropped from laughter, and there we were,
All of us writhing on the ground for one reason
Or another.
Someone said "shin" again,
There was a wild stamping of hands on the ground,
A kicking of feet, and the fit
Of laughter overtook me too,
And that was important, as important
As Joe Barone asking me how I was
Through his tears, picking me up
And dusting me off with hands like swatters, And though my head felt heavy,
I played on till dusk
Missing flies and pop-ups and grounders
And calling out in desperation things like
"Yours" and "take it," but doing all right,
Tugging at my cap in just the right way,
Crouching low, my feet set,
"Hum baby" sweetly on my lips.
—"How I Learned English,"
Gregory Djanikian
Write a short paragraph in which you evaluate what makes the poem effective and give your opinion of the poem overall.
Answers
Answer:
Answer: “My notions of baseball and America / Growing fuzzier each time I whiffed.”
Explanation:
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Explanation:
His writing examines the private and public legacies of family, history, and culture, frequently via thoughts on his own Armenian ancestry and early emigration to the United States. His poetry may be sorrowful, revealing, and hilarious all at the same time; poet Stephen Dunn describes him as a "gardener of the human soul" whose poems "replenish" while providing readers with "a tremendous diversity of tones." His poetry also looks at how language is enhanced or reinvented, particularly in the American context. He has a strong ear for what he refers to as "surprising twists of the phrase" and "strange syntactic constructs" that immigrants bring to English. All in all the poem, with its strong imagery and touch of personal experience-based storytelling; makes for not only a wonderful read but also a taste of perspective for English speakers.