Without Title for my Father who lived without ceremony
Poem by Diane Glancy
It’s hard to know without the buffalo,
the shaman, the arrow,
but my father went out each day to hunt
as though he had them.
5 He worked in the stockyards.
All his life he brought us meat.
No one marked his first kill,
no one sang his buffalo song.
Without a vision he had migrated to the city
10 and went to work in the packing house.
When he brought home his horns and hides
my mother said
get rid of them.
I remember the animal tracks of his car
15 out the drive in the snow and mud,
the aerial on his old car waving
like a bow string.
I remember the silence of his lost power,
the red buffalo painted on his chest.
20 Oh, I couldn’t see it
but it was there, and in the night I heard
his buffalo grunts like a snore.

Directions: On page 38 of your HMH books, complete the section entitled Analyze the Text. Be sure to answer in complete sentences and refer back to the selection as needed.

If you do not have access to the book, the questions are below.

Analyze the Text
1. What details does the speaker used to contrast life in her father's original culture and life in the city? What tone is used to describe these two settings?

2. What can you infer about the speaker's feelings toward her father? Why doesn't she try to intervene in the conflict between her parents? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

3. What theme about tradition and community does this poem convey? Draft an objective summary and then cite key details that help develop the theme over the course of the poem.

4. What do the poem's title and subtitle mean? How do these ideas relate to the theme of the poem?

5. Does the speaker think her father has remained true to himself? Would the father agree? Support your response with evidence from the poem.