Newspaper

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I found a honey bee
Striped yellow and black
On a glowing flower
Holding pollen on its back

Where the little honey bee spent the night
Is where the trees spread their arms out wide
The honey bee set pollen aside
And that very night was almost anything but white

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Shattered glass, lay everywhere
In a way, randomly placed
Forcing my tears to shine, from the dim lighting up above
From where the candle, can barely stay lit

Everything, is gone
Everything, is taken
And nothing, but shattered glass, and I are here

No family, to comfort me
No bed, to warm me
And the only sounds, are the dark chills of wind blowing

My teeth chattering,
And knees trembling,
My arms have been saturated with goose bumps

Life has no meaning from this point,
For I have nothing left
And nothing, to spare

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A poem about “The Night of the Broken Glass”

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“Four who do not belong here, but are here” (line 2) from Four Skinny Trees by Sandra Cisneros. This piece of text shows a background of the author’s life and describes her, and a group of friends who stick together. The poem displays a strong mood, while also using personification. The theme of this poem is if you have friends then nothing can bring you down.

This poem isn’t really about four skinny trees. It personifies them to describe the narrator and her group of friends. Personification is giving life like qualities to an inanimate object. One example of personification in this poem is,”Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine” (1-2). This is describing what she looks like using trees instead of describing people. More personification is shown in the line,”Let one forget his reason for being, they’d all droop like tulips in a glass, each with their arms around the other” (6). This doesn’t only show personification, it shows symbolism. By using “each with their arms around the other,” it shows that they stick together, and have a strong friendship. Another way it shows personification in the poem is, “They grow up and grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger “(4-5). This sentence is using the words “toes” and “teeth” to personify the trees and show their anger.

This poem gives off a radiance, also known as the mood. The mood of this poem is angry, but at the same time, it feels sad. The mood is shown in the line,”Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted by the city” (2). That line makes you feel like everything is hopeless, and that the whole world is out to get them. In the sense of being angry, this line supports it:”They grow up and grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger” (4-5). When it says “never quit their anger” it means that they are always angry, and won’t quit being angry. They are angry because they think they are out of place and don’t fit in. Another example of the mood being sad and angry is, “They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only one who understands them” (1). In this line she’s talking about the trees, who are actually her friends. It’s saying that no one understands her except her friends, making it feel like no one else ever will.

This poem has a strong theme that is important in everyday life. It is that if you have friends, then nothing can bring you down. It also means that you don’t have to have a lot of friends, but just a few really good ones. There is proof of this in the line ,”They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only ones who understand them” (1). This piece of text shows that they are four really good friends who are the only ones that understand each other. More proof is given in this line,”Let one forget his reason, they’d all drop like tulips in a glass, each with their arms around the other” (6). This line is showing that they are great friends. By using “each with their arms around the other,” it also shows that if one forgot their reason, they would all fall apart or catch the one that fell. There is also evidence in this line,”Their strength is secret” (4). The trees strength is secret because they were described as weak and skinny. Their secret strength is their friendship, and together, nothing will wrong them.

The poem Four Skinny Trees has many things in it that are hidden. One being that the trees are personified as the narrator’s friends. They stick together, and nothing can bring them down. But if one forgot their reason, they’d all fall apart. This poem radiates a mood of sadness and anger. Yet, It inspires you to make friends, and keep your best ones because they will get you through.

Billy woke at eight
And readied himself for school
He hurried for he didn’t want to be late
Off went him and his mother

They made their way to school
His mother gave him a kiss
But Billy made it quick to not look like a fool
He hurried in with his mother hollering “I love you!”

That was the last kiss for little Billy
She heard a pop so loud her eardrums nearly broke
They all hid at school, Billy, his class, and Mrs. Milly
The stranger found them first

They tried to seem as if they were not there
But out was Samantha’s foot
The man pulled out another death machine without care
Billy’s mother was racing in

To find everyone gone
Gone into the heavens
Her eyes were a waterfall until next year’s dawn
All that was left were her tears that filled the world

Prohibition began in January 1920. It banned the transportation, manufacture, and sale of all alcohol in the U.S. It was the 18th Amendment. Prohibition came because of crime, wife and child abuse, accidents on the job, and other serious social problems. Prohibition both positively and negatively affected the United States.

During WWI, it was unpatriotic to consume alcohol. This was because alcohol contained ingredients that military members needed for food. In the after-math of WWI, Americans were tired of making sacrifices for their country; they wanted to enjoy life. In other words they wanted to drink, and they did. This was against Prohibition, and many kept the alcohol coming. Another reason why it was unpatriotic to drink during WWI was that Americans developed a hostility to German-American brewers, and other immigrant groups that used alcohol. They believed that id you drank their alcohol, you were supporting the enemy.

Drinking alcohol troubled many people with jobs and money. Lots of people would go to bars and spend all of their hard earned money and then have nothing left for their families. There was also lack of production at factories. Many workers would show up to their jobs drunk, and not able to perform their needed tasks. Many men would also come home drunk, and beat their wives and children. That’s just one thing, though. 50% of all crimes were caused by alcohol during this time. Groups were formed to try to prevent it. One of them was called the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). The WTCU was an organized group of women who were concerned about the destructive powers that alcohol possessed.

Prohibition was known as the 18th Amendment. It was meant to prevent alcohol from being anywhere in the US because it was thought to cause so many problems. But because of Prohibition, crime went up massively. Most of those who were doing so were average people. They were bootleggers, aho hosted speakeasies. Bootleggers would illegally transport alcohol by putting it in their boots. Many people went to speakeasies. At speakeasies, people would illegally buy alcohol in underground taverns. They were called this because you had to speak softly in order to not be heard. The way to get into a speakeasy was by telling a guard standing outside the secret building a password.

Gangsters played a big role in the mess of Prohibition. One of the biggest, was a man by the name of Al Capone. Al Capone headed a criminal empire in Chicago, which he controlled with bribes and violence. From 1925 to 1931, Capone hosted 10,000 speakeasies, and made $60 million a year off of bootlegging. Capone took control of his liquor business like no other; he killed them off. The end came quickly for him, though. In 1931 the chief of gangsters was arrested on tax evasion and sent to jail. That was the only crime that authorities could get him on. Capone was later released from jail, several years later he died at age 48.

The government could not project enough profit to keep the economy running. The economy was majorly affected during Prohibition. There was no profit going towards the government off of selling alcohol. 11 billion dollars was lost, but that doesn’t include the 300 million dollars that it cost to enforce Prohibition. Because of Prohibition, the death rate also went up. This was because there were harmful chemicals being put in rubbing alcohol and things similar to that to try to stop people from drinking. People would drink things like this as a substitute for alcohol during Prohibition. People became even more enraged at this.

In the end, the 18th Amendment was repealed on December 5, 1933. This was because Prohibition caused many bad things like organized crime. The government also needed money, and because of the Stock Market Crash, they became desperate. The solution was to once again allow alcohol. It was the first amendment to ever be repealed, making American history.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams fade
Life is a sword
Without a blade

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams expire
Life is a car
With all but one tire

I came across a wandering man,
He had downward wrinkles all over his pale face
I tried to speak to him,
But he just kept walking

He was without a friend
“No one cares for me,” said the man
There was a sudden cry,
He knew that it was not for him

He was hunched over, moping
“Time has no meaning to me anymore,” he said
There was a luminary clock on the night sky,
That clock never moved for him

I came across a darkened man
He wandered and no one cared, including myself
His time was endless,
And he just kept on walking

I felt as if I were draining in the same hole as he was
His droopy, pale face, made me feel down
I never felt such sadness until I met this man
It was as if there was no way to help him