Why can't she call her brother? Is she just hanging out in this building because she has nowhere else to go? Why is she calling 21 different numbers? Could she possibly be trying to get her brother and that's how many listings there are for people with the same name as her brother? Has she run away from something and is thinking about another town to go to, is that why there are so many other towns listed?
Julie/FL On Jan 28, 2007, at 7:56 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ginger and I have been having a conversation offline about this > poem, which I used recently with teachers to demonstrate > how easily questioning takes you into the text. We thought we > would invite you to join us by first reading the poem and > asking four different questions. Before taking your thinking > deeper, share your questions with the group. Hopefully a few > others will respond with their questions and we can see where it > takes our thinking. I will begin with mine. > > Where is she calling from? > Why is she so desperate to call someone? > Is she in a phone booth or a glassed in room? > Is it temperature or temperment that makes her lean on the glass, > sweaty? > > >> The Phone Call >> Philip Levine >> >> She calls Chicago, but no one >> is home. The operator asks >> for another number but still >> no one answers. Together >> they try twenty-one numbers, >> and at each no one is ever home. >> "Can I call Baltimore?" she asks. >> She can, but she knows no one >> in Baltimore, no one in >> St Louis, Boston, Washington. >> She imagines herself standing >> before the glass wall high >> over Lake Shore Drive, the cars >> below fanning into the city. >> East she can see all the way >> to Gary and the great gray clouds >> of exhaustion rolling over >> the lake where her vision ends. >> This is where her brother lives. >> At such height there's nothing, >> no birds, no growing, no noise. >> She leans her sweating forehead >> against the cold glass, shudders, >> and puts down the receiver. >> >> > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
