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Foul Shot and Street Painting Paired

The poem describes a basketball player taking a last second foul shot with two seconds left on the clock and his team down by two points. It focuses on the player's intense pre-shot routine and actions: he measures the hoop, calms himself, takes a deep breath, and nudges the ball upward. The ball wobbles nervously as the crowd watches silently begging for it to fall. Finally, right before the buzzer, the ball dives through the hoop.

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1K views3 pages

Foul Shot and Street Painting Paired

The poem describes a basketball player taking a last second foul shot with two seconds left on the clock and his team down by two points. It focuses on the player's intense pre-shot routine and actions: he measures the hoop, calms himself, takes a deep breath, and nudges the ball upward. The ball wobbles nervously as the crowd watches silently begging for it to fall. Finally, right before the buzzer, the ball dives through the hoop.

Uploaded by

api-257262131
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name ______________________________________

Directions:
1. Read the poem aloud once and silently once.
2. Talk to the text to figure out the meaning of the poem. Bracket sections, and make
comments, then summarize the poem in a few complete sentences.
3. Answer the questions at the bottom of the poem in complete sentences.
4. Mark these poetic devices:
a. Mark all of the POWERFUL verbs the author uses in the poem - Yellow
b. Personification/Simile/Metaphor Pink
c. Orange - Sound devices like alliteration and/or onomatopoeia
Foul Shot
By Edwin A. Hoey
With two 60s stuck on the scoreboard
And two seconds hanging on the clock,
The solemn boy in the center of eyes,
Squeezed by silence,
Seeks out the line with his feet,
Soothes his hands along his uniform,
Gently drums the ball against the floor,
Then measures the waiting net,
Raises the ball on his right hand,
Balances it with his left,
Calms it with fingertips,
Breathes,
Crouches,
Waits,
And then through a stretching of stillness,
Nudges it upward.
The ball
Slides up and out,
Lands,
Leans,
Wobbles,
Wavers,
Hesitates,
Plays it coy
Until every face begs with unsounding screams
And then
And then
And then,
Right before ROAR-UP,
Dives down and through.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: (Prepare to discuss)
1. Look at the formation of the poem the lines and their lengths. What do you
notice? Why do you think the poet made this decision?
2. Study stanza 1 and 2: What is the focus of each stanza?

Name ______________________________________
3. What effect does the repetition of And then /And then /And then, have on the
poem?
DIRECTIONS:
1. Read the poem aloud once and silently once.
2. Talk to the text to summarize and figure out the meaning of the poem. Bracket
and summarize sections of the poem. Ask questions. Make connections. Identify
the following:
a. Action verbs Green or Blue
b. Imperative sentences Pink
c. Mark any other poetic elements or observations that you find.
Street Painting
By Ann Turner
I watched him a long time
and this is how he did it:
Stand in front of the wall
like its a bad dream.
Make faces.
Jam your hat down.
Pull it off.
Pop your fingers walk
around the block and come back,
start up like youre surprised
the walls still there.
Then sigh.
Take out your paints.
Doodle around with them,
stirring and humming.
Dip a brush in,
stare at it,
take a rush forward
and dab-dab-dab
at the wall.
Soons you know,
you got faces
and bodies and trees
like they were locked up
in that old brush
and all you had to do
was stare at it
to get a picture.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Ann Turner focuses her poem on observing someone doing a task in this case a street
painter. Write down a list of tasks you might observe or imagine someone doing. Write at
least three ideas.

Name ______________________________________
1.
2.
3.

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