Click to read "i am offering this poem" by jimmy santiago baca. then
answer the question.
the feeling of love that the author expresses in the poem is best contrasted
by which line?
o
a. no longer cares if you live or die
o
b. rest by this fire, and make you feel safe
o
c. so it is a pot full of yellow corn
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d. come knocking, and i will answer, give you directions

Hunghjihv bhubvgu highly

We swallow boulders:

(lead words, molasses covered prejudice, glass shards of promises long broken)

Mouths open wide and heads tipped back

like Hawaiian fire eaters.

Chipped teeth are bits of porcelain history,

sliding down our throats in rivers of neglect

and acid.

The stones settle,

BOOM...

BOOM...

BOOM...

Our stomachs are filled up, anvil weight

'till we can hardly sit, hardly stand, or walk.

We drag our feet in pain, as the quiet indicator that

we've had rocks for breakfast,

lunch, dinner, for years,

in the hopes that someone will recognize

the broken concrete footprints behind us

and touch us gently on the forearm:

"Honey, are you alright?"

(and isn't it the first sweet trickle of kind words that crumble

the already cracking facade?)
There's no stopping the torrent then,

tsunami tears and a heaving, convulsing

to the point of cathartic vomit-

boulders of every shape and size

tumbling out of our mouths and filling the room;

broken teeth and granite eyes

until we no longer see the floor, the walls...

And then serenity.

The hand has moved to the shoulder,

forming a universal hug.

"I'm here now... and you're ok."

We stand up, together, and leave that room,

a soundless void of yesterday,

to absorb the impermeability of stones,

carrying our gait buoyant, without gravity.

No weight at all now, and barely a second glance,

but to turn out the light - and lock the door behind us...

hope this helps!!