Week 19: College Reading and Writing: Jericho Brown and Michael Skolnik

Week 19: College Reading and Writing: Jericho Brown and Michael Skolnik

Jericho Brown and Michael Skolnik: Annotating, Summarizing, Analyzing, Imitating

to annotate: to make notes on something to help you understand it better

to summarize: to put something in your own words

to analyze: to consider a question on the text, providing supporting examples from the text

to imitate: to create an original piece of writing based on something you have read

We are doing the seventh poem and response in the book today, starting on page 22. 

Exercise: Read and annotate

1. Read the poem and response out loud and underline any words you need to look up

2. Write any questions you have in the margins or in your notebook

3. Put tricky parts into your own words in notes in the margins or in your notebook

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the poem

1.     What does Brown trust “maggots” to do more than “an officer of the law”?

2.     In this poem, what are the ways “most Americans” kill themselves?

3.     What does Brown mean when he says his body is “greater than the settlement a city can pay”?

Exercise: Summarize the poem

Write a paragraph summarizing the poem with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.

example too-short summary, incorporating quotation and in-text citation:

Jericho Brown’s poem “Bullet Points” lists all the ways he won’t “shoot” or “hang” himself, particularly “in a police car. . . [o]r in the jail cell” of a strange town (22). He admits he “may be at risk,” but if he dies at home he “trust[s] the maggots” and other creatures under his house more than the police to care for his corpse (Brown 22).  Brown concludes by promising that if his body is found “dead anywhere near [a] cop,” then that cop killed him (22).  He concludes by pointing out that his body is worth more than any wrongful death “settlement,” and “more beautiful” than a bullet (Brown 22). 

Work Cited Page

Brown, Jericho. “Bullet Points” Bullets Into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to Gun Violence. Ed. Brian Clements et al. Beacon Press, 2017.

Exercise: Questions for Comprehension of the response

1. Why didn’t Skolnik fear cops when he was a “young boy”?
2. How does Brown’s poem make him feel?
3. What do you think Skolnik means by “bad seed” theory?
4. What do you think Skolnik means by “an entire system that is propped up by the fear and interrogation” of people of color?

Exercise: Summarize the response

Write a paragraph summarizing the response with quotations, in-text citation, and a Work Cited Page.

Exercise: Analysis

Question for analysis: Brown and Skolnik agree that “people of color [. . . ] have good reason to fear for their lives during encounters with law enforcement” (Skolnik 24).   They come at it from very different perspectives, however, and seem to be speaking to multiple audiences.  Quote and cite the text to point out places you feel those perspectives are being revealed, and what audiences are being addressed.

Exercise: Imitation

Write your own poem about something you will never do.  It can be something you don’t want to do, or something you’ll never get a chance to do, or something you’ll never do again.  Use Brown’s techniques of internal rhyme and repetition.

For homework, revise these in a blue book or on loose paper; do not turn in your notebook or rip out pages to turn in.

Homework:

1. Summary of Poem
2. Summary of Response
3. Analysis of Poem and Response
4. Imitation of Poem