Poetry Collection
This poem is about a mother giving advice to her son about life.
What is Mother to Son?
This is where the grandfather spends most of his time in the story.
What is the garden?
Maya goes to live with her mother in this state.
What is California?
This article is mainly about words that are doing this over time.
What is disappearing (or being used less)?
This sport is being played in the story.
What is basketball?
In “Ode to My Papi,” the speaker is talking about this family member.
Who is her father?
The narrator visits this older family member who takes care of the garden.
Who is the grandfather?
Maya goes to live with her mother in this California city.
What is San Francisco?
Many words are disappearing because people are using this type of communication more often.
What is texting (or digital communication/social media)?
This is the name of the story's antagonist.
Who is Dante?
In Mother to Son, life is compared to this object that you climb.
What is a staircase (or stairs)?
The fruit that the grandfather gives to the narrator at the climax of the story.
What is strawberry?
This is the name of Maya’s mother.
Who is Vivian?
This language was brought back after many years of not being used.
What is Hebrew?
The message of the story is that success in sports—and life—often requires this quality.
What is confidence or taking action?
Both “Ode to My Papi” and “To James” show this common theme about relationships.
What is love (or caring for someone important)?
The narrator begins to understand the garden better by doing this with the grandfather.
What is helping him (or working in the garden with him)?
This is the name of Maya's brother.
Who is Bailey?
When words stop being used and are no longer understood, they are called this.
What are obsolete words?
Compared to Dante, the narrator feels this way about his own basketball skills at first.
What is unsure or nervous?
In Mother to Son, the mother says her life has not been a “crystal stair,” meaning life has been this kind of experience.
What is difficult (or full of struggles/challenges)?
The garden teaches the narrator that good things take time, which is an example of this life lesson.
What is patience (or that hard work pays off)?
Maya says her mom looks like this.
What is a movie star?
Even though some words disappear, the article explains that language is always doing this over time.
What is changing (or evolving)?
In the story, the narrator compares Dante to this kind of athlete because of his skill and confidence on the basketball court.
What is a pro basketball player?