Ode to fireworks
in autumn my mother drove us to the edge of the bed
where the fair was set up year after years
the carousel, the bumper cars the long, low sheds
filled with prinewinning animals
$wemy sister, my cousin, and 1-were ready for bed.
already in our pajamas. this was a treat we waited
all year for: we waited in the darkness
for the first lows dall thomps like someone
beating an old, filthy rug hung on a wash line.
then we counted the seconds between the lightning
and thunder, as we also used to de until the sky
lat up: redblue, green, gold. in my mind's eye
tean still see the straggly ancient oak whose branches
reached up past the exhibition halls silhouetted
13 against the spectrum of stars that cascaded behind it.
it was one thing to look up into the sky
and imagine yourself in it or to make out pictures
among the clouds, which my sister liked to do.
no, i would tell her, that cloud
> does not look like an elephant, a hat, an umbrella.
but it was another thing to see
the sky at night written upon
with those jewels. (we lived in the country.
night was night.) all around us crickets
> stridulated in the stubble of what had been
somebody's cornfield, their song rising and falling.
you could smell winter on the air's edge.
now, in the city, when the sky dips into shadow
at new year's or on the fourth of july, i find myself
3 craning my neck upward at odd moments.
the city sky is always lit up. this is where we live now,
and it is how we live now, awash in light
oferere hne. everything is a constant celebration:
picking up washing at the cleaner's or stopping by
the comer market for a lot of heavy bread
and the music around me is the music of people,
their voices rising and falling in a hundred languages.
but beneath the yellowish glow deep in the sky
of all our city lights pelting out into the universe.
i remember the feel of the nickup truck bumping
across the ridged field, as i kept waiting for those
childhood bursts, watching as they escorted us home.
18. the fireworks is the poem represent the speaker's
e wish to return to a simpler way of living
f. bittersweet feelings about leaving the past behind
g. high expectations for everyday life
h. reflections on past interactions with relatives
19. the comparison in lines 8-9 of the poem is used to convey
a the muffled pounding of explosions in the distance.
b. the way lightning streaks through the clouds.
c. the echoes of thunder on an autumn night.
d. the glow of sparks falling from the sky.
20. read lines 22-23 from the poem.
the sky at night written upon
with those jewels.
what does the word choice in these lines convey about the speaker?
e. the speaker values material possessions,
f. the speaker imagines that the fireworks are magical.
g. the speaker believes that the country setting is distinctive.
h. the speaker cherishes the memory of seeing fireworks as a child.
fifth
21. the use of italics on the word "night" in line 24 is most likely intended to emphasize the
a. sense of mystery in the darkness.
b. sense of absolute darkness.
c. speaker's fear of night.
d. speaker's certainty about that night.
br)
thi
22. what is the purpose of the repeated words "rising and falling in lines 26 and 37?
e, to create a distinction between solitude and meaningful interaction
e. to demonstrate a connection between the speaker's past and present
g. to emphasize the speaker's attention to the surrounding sounds
h. to compare the fireworks to common sights and sounds