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The Circle Game – Joni Mitchell

Yesterday a child came out to wonderCaught a dragonfly inside a jarFearful when the sky was full of thunderAnd tearful at the falling of a star

Chorus:And the season they go round and roundAnd the painted ponies go up and downWe’re captive on a carousel of timeWe can’t return, we can only look behindFrom where we cameAnd go round and roundIn the circle game

Then the child moved ten timesRound the seasonsSkated over ten clear frozen streamsWords like “when you’re older”Must appease himAnd promises of someday make hisDreams

Chorus

Sixteen springs and sixteenSummers gone nowCartwheels turn to car wheelsThrough the townAnd they tell him, “Take your time,It won’t be long now”Till you drag your feet to slow theCircle down

Chorus

So the years spin by now and theBoy is twentyThough his dreams have lost someGrandeur coming trueThere’ll be new dreams, maybe betterBefore the last revolving yearIs through

Chorus

D-day Minus – Edwin Brock

Son, you have two more monthsto live. On the sixteenth of December1963, if the hospital has guessedright, you will begin to die. Bythe time you are old enough to read this, you will be dead:this is a process called communication.

You will not see the world at first:you will touch flesh and you will cry.Years later you will cry because you see too much and touch too little.

You will be hungry for love, and love will feed you; later, you will behungry for love. And love, in case

you do not understand, is thecondition you will come to fear.

Son, you are the third of my children;the other two are dead, looking forlove. When you meet them, begentle; be gentle also with me;and she who held you happily fornine months: we too are looking for love.

And love, in case you do not understand,is the grandeur that will kill you.Have children soon, my son: everyoneshould live for those nine months.Afterwards, die in good company;for dying is a lonely occupation.

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Copy – Richard Armour

His mother’s eyes,His father’s chin,His auntie’s nose,His uncle’s grin,

His great-aunt’s hairHis grandma’s ears.His grandpa’s mouth,So it appears…

Poor little tot,Well he may moan.He hasn’t muchTo call his own.

The Stunt Flier – John Updike

I come into my dim bedroominnocently and my babyis lying in her crib facedown;just a hemisphere of the half-bald headshows, and the bare feet, uncovered,the small feet crossed at the ankleslike a dancer doing easilya difficult step – or,more exactly, like a cherubplanning through Heaven,cruising at a middle altitudethrough the cumulus of the tumbled covers,which disclose the feet crossedat the ankles à la small boys who,exulting in their mastery of bicycles,lift their hands from the handle barsto demonstrate how easy gliding is.

The Circle Game Questions:1) What is the “carousel of time”? What figure of speech is this?

2) How does the child feel about aging at each of the different stages?

3) At what stage of life does the poem start? At what stage does it end? What is the speaker doing at both times?

4) Are there any lines/phrases that are particularly effective?

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D-Day Minus Questions:1) What is the situation in the poem?

2) What is the father trying to teach the child?

3) What are some effective lines/phrases?

Stunt Flier Questions:1) To what does the father compare his child? What figure of speech is used?

2) How does the father feel about his child? How do we know this?

3) What are some effective lines/phrases?