Poetry

As suggested by the title, poetry is at the heart of every action and shift in the poem. The poem’s tension comes from the fact that the teacher and the students view poetry in different ways. To the teacher, poetry is “a color slide” (Line 3), a beehive buzzing with activity, a maze to explore at one’s leisure. It can be as limitless as an entire world. To the students, poetry is an antagonistic force standing between them and a passing grade. While the students seek to overcome poetry and rise above it, the teacher encourages poetry as a state of being.

Light

Light is directly mentioned twice in the poem: “I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light” (Lines 1-2); “walk inside the poem’s room / and feel the walls for a light switch” (Lines 7-8). Both of...