poem

Introduction:

· Introduce poet and poem

· Relate first sentence to thesis

· State thesis

The poem, "Black Hair," by Gary Soto describes a time in the boyhood of the speaker who looks back on his former self. Through many vivid images, the speaker describes himself as a boy--his circumstances and his character at age eight. Three images in particular, "His crouch the one I assumed before an altar of worn baseball cards in my room," "...in love with those who could do it--the triple and hard slide,/The glove eating balls into double plays," and "...in my mind I rounded the bases with him, my face flared, my hair lifting/Beautifully," show that baseball provides the boy a sense of power at this time in his life.

Body Paragraph: (Write three)

· State image but do not just repeat. Instead restate in new language in topic sentence and make a generalization about it

· Analyze words; refer to the text

· Develop and support the topic sentence which develops thesis

The first image of the boy "crouched" low in his room before his precious baseball cards, worshipping through imitation the moves of his hero, Hector, shows that baseball acquires an almost religious significance for the boy. The cards themselves are worn with age and use. The adjective, worn, indicates that the boy has flipped through them many times. He has looked at each picture and each set of statistics so often that the ends of the cards are bent, and the cardboard is soft. The cards are to him like a prayer book, a stack of holy cards, or a Bible. When he is by himself, he arranges these cards in a special way. This arrangement becomes his altar where he worships his heroes. He worships by imitating these gods that he admires. He mimics their various poses and stances. Especially, he practices '"the crouch" of Hector Moreno, a Mexican like himself, and a player he looks to as the best. This hero is to him as Cal Ripikin is to young Baltimore fans. Baseball and its heroes are clearly the most compelling forces in his life at this point.

Conclusion:

· Reaffirm you point

· Relate insight gained through analysis

All of the images in this poem show the predominant place of baseball in this boy's life. He worships the heroes of the game and imitates their actions. He participates so fully with them emotionally that he feels himself one of them. The victories of his role model, Hector Moreno, become his own victories, and he, for a while, becomes a hero of his own life and his people.