View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker," what purchase does the worker make that seems to be in anticipation of her death?
(a) A suitcase.
(b) A photo album.
(c) A diary.
(d) An urn.

2. In "Reasons for Staying," what is the speaker's "last address"?
(a) His body.
(b) His apartment.
(c) His mind.
(d) His island.

3. In "Not Even," what does napalm have?
(a) A foe.
(b) A legacy.
(c) A "rainbow afterglow."
(d) A friend.

4. In "Reasons for Staying," by what light does the speaker read his books?
(a) The light of the moon.
(b) The light of the sun.
(c) The light of the lightbulb.
(d) The light of "riotfire."

5. In "Nothing," what do ghosts who are family say?
(a) Lies.
(b) Funny things.
(c) Prayers.
(d) Mean things.

6. In "Reasons for Staying," how does the speaker describe the suicide of his uncle?
(a) As a result of isolation.
(b) As banal.
(c) As a result of drug addiction.
(d) As dying on purpose.

7. In "Tell Me Something Good," what does the speaker want his younger self to know?
(a) You can be nothing and still breathing.
(b) You are worthless.
(c) You are charming.
(d) You have a future abroad.

8. In "The Punctum," how does the speaker describe "the skill lodged in the gravedigger's hands"?
(a) As "timeless."
(b) As often the same one "lodged behind your face."
(c) As "the innocents."
(d) As "the original sin."

9. In "Not Even," what does the speaker "throw himself" into?
(a) Pain.
(b) His job.
(c) Helplessness.
(d) Gravity.

10. In "Nothing," what do the speaker and his partner do together?
(a) Shovel snow.
(b) Sing.
(c) Go to church.
(d) Dance.

11. In "Ars Poetica as the Maker," what does the speaker gather fistfuls of?
(a) Paints.
(b) Ash.
(c) Leaves.
(d) Heather.

12. In "Künstlerroman," what are the lover's clothes returned to them like?
(a) Glory.
(b) Rags.
(c) Shame.
(d) Crumpled laws.

13. In "No One Knows the Way to Heaven," what happens when two men walk holding hands into a bar?
(a) The joke is on them.
(b) Nothing.
(c) Time stops.
(d) The room clears.

14. In "Not Even," what does the speaker say he used to be?
(a) A drink.
(b) A journal.
(c) A fag.
(d) An anomaly.

15. In "Reasons for Staying," what does the speaker's mother apply before heading to chemo?
(a) A coat.
(b) Lipstick.
(c) A scarf.
(d) Blush.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Reasons for Staying," what is the only thing that rhymes with music?

2. In "Not Even," what does the speaker say is necessary to "make it out of here"?

3. In "Not Even," why does a young woman once tell the speaker he is "lucky"?

4. In "Toy Boat," what are the sparrows "pierced by"?

5. In "Not Even," what does the speaker decide he wants from now on at the end of the poem?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 462 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample