English
use one of the prompts below to respond to the poem:
i think…
i notice…
i predict…
i infer…
i wonder…
i understand…
i connect…
how things work
by gary soto
today it's going to cost us twenty dollars
to live. five for a softball. four for a book,
a handful of ones for coffee and two sweet rolls,
bus fare, rosin for your mother's violin.
we're completing our task. the tip i left
for the waitress filters down
like rain, wetting the new roots of a child
perhaps, a belligerent cat that won't let go
of a balled sock until there's chicken to eat.
as far as i can tell, daughter, it works like this:
you buy bread from a grocery, a bag of apples
from a fruit stand, and what coins
are passed on others buy pencils, glue,
tickets to a movie in which laughter
is thrown into their faces.
if we buy goldfish, someone tries on a hat.
if we buy crayons, someone walks home with a broom.
a tip. a small purchase here and there,
and things just keep going. i guess.