Name				Period

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1. Are you the type of person who wants everything perfect all the time? Or, are you the type of person who accepts that life is not perfect?  

2. Can you find happiness in life when it is filled with imperfections?

3. If you or somebody else expects you to be perfect, and then you are not, do you feel disappointed in yourself?

Ode to Family Photographs   by Gary Soto

This is the pond, and these are my feet.	
This is the rooster, and this is more of my feet.

Mama was never good at pictures.

This is a statue of a famous general who lost an arm,
And this is me with my head cut off.

This a trash can chained to a gate,
This is my father with his eyes half-closed.

This a photograph of my sister
And a giraffe looking over her shoulder.

This is our car’s front bumper.
This is a bird with a pretzel in its beak.
This is my brother Pedro standing on one leg on a rock
With a smear of chocolate on his face.

Mama sneezed when she looked
Behind the camera: the snapshots are blurry,
The angles dizzy as a spin on a merry-go-round.

But we had fun when Mama picked up the camera.
How can I tell?
Each of us laughing hard.
Can you see: I have candy in my mouth.
4. How many lines?

5. How many stanzas?

6. What is the rhyme scheme?

7. What is the tone of the poem?

  The author is sharing his anger toward his mom’s inability to take pictures.
	The author is celebrating the imperfections of special moments with family.

8. What is the theme of the poem?

	Families should celebrate as they remember special moments.
	Family members should learn how to correctly take a picture.

9. What is the mood of this poem?

  playful and lighthearted
serious and unappreciative

10. What are some of the patterns or repetition the author uses throughout the poem?

11. The author uses a lot of visual images.  List at least 12 images that appeal to the senses.

		

		

12. Why is this an ode?

13. Why can this ode poem be considered a list poem?