Dave Lucas, "Suburban Pastoral"

Here, at the Poetry Foundation.

From current HHS junior Jamie Baer's anthology "Subject to Change: Poems about Coming of Age."

            In Dave Lucas’s “Suburban Pastoral,” the homely and bleak setting of a suburban town portrays the dejected dreams of better days. There is no variability or charm to this town, as “everything seems content to settle into archetypal grooves.” Evening comes on “like a second drink”; it is cold, inevitable, and predictable. Sitting in plastic chairs on driveways, men drink beer and talk about the weather. Meanwhile, beyond the “plotted cityscape,” their sons roam around, enjoying the height of their youth. Rather than regret their expired youth, the men find comfort in the dull, familiar surroundings of their wives “on the phone,” the cooler with “Labatt to spare,” and the anticipation that “at nine the Giants play the Braves.” Although “there may be something to romanticize” about their youth, the men go to bed with “nothing to say but ‘night.” The dismal suburban setting asserts that the glamour of youth eventually fades into a dreary, yet comfortable, existence.

For today's Peer Review. In a duo, read the notes for the two blogs you have been assigned and then, in a comment, give them a score from 1-3 for each of the following categories:  Claim, Support, Discussion (inference), and Language/Style.  Leave a comment, too telling them something you like about their notes, or which one you like the most.  Lastly, pick one of the two as a "star" and indicate that they are one that comment.

Once you have your winner, read the winner of the first round match you are paired with and discuss with the other two peer reviewers which of those two star posts is the "winner."  Tell them so in a new comment.