“tattoo”
by gregg shapiro

my father won’t talk about the numbers
3-7-8-2-5 between the wrist and elbow
blue as blood on his left forearm
instead, he spreads himself over me
spilling his protection, like acid, until it burns
i wear him like a cloak, sweat under the weight

there were stories in the lines on his face
the nervous blue flash in his eyes
his bone-crushing hugs
i am drowning in his silence
trying to stay afloat on curiosity
questions choke me and i swallow hard

we don’t breathe the same air
speak the same language
live in the same universe
we are continents, worlds apart
i am sorry my life has remained unscathed
his scars still bleed, his bruises don’t fade

if i could trade places with him
i would pad the rest of his days
wrap him in gauze and velvet
absorb the shocks and treat his wounds
i would scrub the numbers from his flesh
extinguish the fire and give him back his life

analyze how the free-verse structure in the poem “tattoo” by gregg shapiro reveals shapiro’s message.

98 points!

assignment

analyzing characters

respond to the following questions in one paragraph for each. use specific examples from the text to support your responses.

1. there is a set of twins on the island named sam and eric. however, when describing them, golding regularly refers to them as samneric. how does this way of describing the twins relate to their behavior and the way that readers understand their characters? what examples of their behavior readers see that samneric is really the appropriate way to refer to them?

2. as the boys set out to search for the beast, ralph allows jack to lead the way, and he sinks to the back of the pack, " to have escaped responsibility for a time." what does this moment lead you to infer about ralph and about his feelings about being the group’s leader? what does this moment foreshadow?

3. while part of the party searching for the beast, simon realizes that the notion of the beast that the other boys have does not make sense. a beast sitting atop a mountain with claws, a beast who did not leave tracks, could have easily caught the twins. simon has a different picture of the beast: "there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick." how does this picture relate to the beast that samneric saw? how does it relate to what simon said earlier about the beast being "only us"?

no plagarism

me

there is no picture just let me know what it is and i can you tho : ) mark me the brainliest ? have a good day

a

explanation: