Deer

 Read the following poem, "Deer," by Bill Griffin.

Omigosh oh snap

oh horrors I heard it

so close too close

and way too big

might be one of those

Little Wolves I'll bet

there are two 

no ten a whole pack

oh God I just know

they bite

I

must

do

as

Ma

ma

said

stand

per

fect

ly

still

un

til

he

turns

a

way

then

run

like

Oh heck, it's only

you, and you've been

looking at me

all day long

and haven't even

seen me

once.

Why does the author have the middle of the poem consist of all lines being only one syllable long?

a. to show how still the deer is being

b. to give the poem a dumb bell shape

c. to show how fast the deer is moving

d. to symbolize the heart beats of the scared deer

Scroll down for the answer.

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This poem is STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS - that is, it is written in the thought process of the narrator.  This is not a common method of writing (two books that come to mind are As I Lay Dying  and The Death of Jayson Porter.  Chances are very high that you will NOT see this term on the NCFinal (or MSL or Common Exam or Smarter Balance or whatever it is called when you see this post); however, there is a chance that it will pop up, and if it does, then you know what it means!

The deer is frightened and, as all deer do when frightened, he is standing perfectly still, shown by the slow, one syllable lines.  The correct answer is A.

This is just one of several animal related poems in Bill Griffin's book, Snake Den Ridge: A Bestiary.  He is a North Carolina poet and you should check out his other works at his blog: http://griffinpoetry.com/