8th Grade Inference-Poetry
You Do Activity
Hey Dog
Hey Dog!
That’s how you call your boys.
Hey Dog. You want to hoop?
Then you and your dogs are throwing
the ball around and talking about
girls and ballplayers and stuff
you’re gonna have one day
A red car
some slamming kicks
a shearling coat
a pocket full of money
a pretty girl
a satellite dish and cable
on and on you and your dogs
two college degrees, straight A straight up
a phat deal with the Lakers
no, the Knicks
no, the Nets
Nah-the Nets ain’t nothing.
What you talking about, Dog? The Nets got game.
Yeah, a game of checkers!!
Game of tag, maybe.
Game of pin the tail on the donkey!
Just grinning and talking junk
shooting hoops
not even knowing where
or when people started calling the people
they like to be with Dog
but liking it and feeling good when
your dog slaps your hand, gives you a quick hug, says
What’s up, Dog?
You Show Activity
Rodney
He comes in the door and sets a big duffel bag down,
lifts Miss Edna up like she weighs two pounds
and she’s laughing
and punching
his shoulders and crying all at the same time.
Then he lifts me up, says Look at Little Brother Lonnie
all growed up
You almost a man now, aren’t you.
Little brother.
Little brother Lonnie.
My Big brother Rodney.
Imagine that!
There’s roast beef and ribs and potato salad.
There’s rice and peas and corn bread and greens.
There’s sweet potatoes and macaroni and cheese and
even some fried okra
There’s three kinds of pie and two kinds of cake
and we eat
and we eat till the thought of eating
another bite makes us feel like crying.
All the while Rodney’s telling us how he’s come on home,
gonna get himself a job here. Says
Ain’t nothing for me upstate anymore.
He has Miss Edna’s dark skin and straight teeth.
They even laugh the same.
He’s tall and his shoulders are wide
like somebody who could
get a pro football contract if they wanted to.
I lift my own skinny shoulders, wishing they spread
out like Rodney’s do.
Little Brother, he called me.
The kitchen is warm.
Miss Edna cant’ stop grinning.
Rodney’s voice sounds like it should always be
in this house.
Little Brother, he called me.
Little Brother Lonnie.
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