Desert

1. By: Mariah Sterrett Desert By: Josephine Miles

2. Poet’s Background • “Josephine Miles was born in Chicago but spent most of her life in California. She developed rheumatoid arthritis at a young age and was often confined to a wheelchair, which she claimed allowed her time to write. • Not only a skilled poet, Miles was also a brilliant scholar; she spent her career teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, and was the first woman to earn tenure in the English Department.” • Source:http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poet/josephine-miles

3. Poets background (context clues) • “Josephine Miles was born in Chicago but spent most of her life in California. She developed rheumatoid arthritis at a young age and was often confined to a wheelchair, which she claimed allowed her time to write. • Not only a skilled poet, Miles was also a brilliant scholar; she spent her career teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, and was the first woman to earn tenure in the English Department.” Hints that could help you better understand the poem

4. The poem (Desert by: Josephine Miles ) When with the skin you do acknowledge drought, The dry in the voice, the lightness of feet, the fine Flake of the heat at every level line; When with the hand you learn to touch without Surprise the spine for the leaf, the prickled petal, The stone scorched in the shine, and the wood brittle; Then where the pipe drips and the fronds sprout And the foot-square forest of clover blooms in sand, You will lean and watch, but never touch with your hand.

5. 1st Stanza When with the skin you do acknowledge drought, A The dry in the voice, the lightness of feet, the fine B Flake of the heat at every level line; B Literal meaning There is a drought causing the voice to be dry and there to be heat everywhere -Imagery -Alliteration No alliteration in the 1st stanza

6. 2nd stanza When with the hand you learn to touch without A Surprise the spine for the leaf, the prickled petal, C The stone scorched in the shine, and the wood brittle; D Literal meaning The stone became very hot in the sun and what the hand that you learned not to use surprises something -Imagery Rhyme Scheme -Alliteration

7. 3rd stanza Then where the pipe drips and the fronds sprout A And the foot-square forest of clover blooms in sand, E You will lean and watch, but never touch with your hand E Literal meaning Its raining, fronds are sprouting, and clovers are blooming in the sand Imagery: “fronds sprout “ -Imagery -Alliteration

8. Putting the poem together Figurative meaning I think the figurative meaning means that when life gets rough and complicated that sometimes you just have to sit back and watch life to see what will happen. The “drought” is representing the struggles that you could come across in life while the pipes dripping represent the good things that are happening. The line, “You will lean and watch, but never touch with your hand” is telling how you sometimes just need to watch life go by and see what happens When with the skin you do acknowledge drought, A The dry in the voice, the lightness of feet, the fine B Flake of the heat at every level line; B When with the hand you learn to touch without A Surprise the spine for the leaf, the prickled petal, C The stone scorched in the shine, and the wood brittle; D Then where the pipe drips and the fronds sprout A And the foot-square forest of clover blooms in sand, E You will lean and watch, but never touch with your hand. E