vincent pisacano assignment 2

The Drag

I wake up.
One of the hardest tasks of the day.
I shuffle downstairs
and immediately head for the coffee.
I need coffee.

Dazed and Confused
I sit slumped in first hour.
RED ALERT
RED ALERT
teacher is checking homework.

I scramble to fill in
the questions I missed.
I get partial credit.
I can live with that.

I have met most of my mates
in this dreary building.
Most I will miss,
as we venture together
into the darkness
Of College.


Through the use of diction, syntax, imagery, and allusions, I was able to achieve a sluggish and lazy tone in my poem "The Drag." Diction choices such as "shuffle," "dazed," and "dreary" establishes a somewhat depressing mood for the reader, and adds to the sluggish tone. The syntax in the first paragraph, for example, is short and choppy, as the first and last sentence both have 3 words. This creates the effect that the subject has a short attention span, and can't think of much before he gets his coffee, which in turn builds to the sluggish tone. The best example of imagery would be in the second paragraph, where the subject is sitting "slumped in first hour." A reader can easily imagine a lazy high school student slumped in his chair in the early morning classes, and this image of a lazy highschooler even further establishes a sluggish tone. Lastly, the movie "Dazed and Confused," about the adventures of a group of high-schoolers on the last day of school, is alluded to in the poem, and greatly supports the sluggish tone of the poem.