The International Reading Association and the National
Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has an excellent on-line resource for
teaching poetry, the Poetry Analysis Sheet, which can be used both for
discussion and for writing. This sheet
can be reproduced for educational purposes and it gives students a list of
questions with which to approach a poem.
In addition, here are some questions for discussion and
writing that are specific to Mexican
Jenny and Other Poems:
1. Some
readers have noted that images of hands circulate throughout the
book. Identify some of these
instances. What do hands suggest
in each context?
2. How
are photographic images used in the book?
Discuss the use of photos in any of the poems. What kinds of evidence are they intended to provide? Do they fulfill their role?
3. Write
a poem or piece of flash fiction about a photograph that you own or
remember.
4. The
poem about Mexican Jenny fills in gaps in the story about a real woman. Write your own poem, creative essay, or
story about a real person and write your own version of missing parts of his or
her story. Your subject could be a
public figure, family member, or even a mythic or fictional character.
5. What
does food and cooking signify in these poems? Look at two different poems for examples.
