Summary

The next poem is titled “Poetry Poem.” Lonnie says it takes many drafts to get a poem right, and it is sometimes an impossible task, which is both “great” and “really stupid” (62).

The next poem is titled “Eric Poem.” Ms. Marcus announces that Eric is in the hospital. He has sickle-cell anemia. She demonstrates what his cells look like and offers some facts, such as the disease is not contagious but causes Eric a lot of pain. Eric tries to think of happy things, like Miss Edna suggests when she finds him crying, but his mind keeps circling through “Popsicle, icicle, bicycle, sickle cell” (65).

The next poem is “Lamont.” Lamont is obviously angry and upset when he takes his seat in class. Ms. Marcus says they should take out their poetry notebooks, but Lamont refuses, saying black men do not write poetry. Lonnie...