Kay Ryan~ Turtle power point

1. Kay Ryan
By: Sarah Keffer

2. Childhood
O Born 1945
O San Joaquin Valley + Mojave Desert
O Antelope Valley College

3. After College
O UCLA
O Bachelors + masters
O Teacher
O College of Marin
O Middle-aged writer

4. Why she writes
O Carpenter or comedian
O Likes to write to learn more
“It's the object of my life to get things to
float. Because I like it. Because it's a relief.
Because it is relief.“

5. Poetry
O Short
O Rhymes
O Speculations about life
O Needle, duck, cloud, etc.
O “I think there is something troubling about the
association of poetry and doing good. Poetry is
poetry. It’s savage. It’s selfish. It’s opportunistic. It’s
not a nice thing.”
O Asked about poet laureates starting causes

6. Career as Poet
O Poet Laureate~ 16th (2008)
O Poet appointed by government
O Union League Poetry Prize
O Ruth Lily Poetry Award
O Maurice English Poetry Prize
O Chancellor of the Academy of Poets
O Compared to Emily Dickinson, Marianne
Moore, May Swenson

7. Turtle

8. Who would be a turtle who could help it?
A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,
she can ill afford the chances she must take
in rowing toward the grasses that she eats.
Her track is graceless, like dragging
a packing-case places, and almost any slope
defeats her modest hopes. Even being practical,
she's often stuck up to the axle on her way
to something edible. With everything optimal,
she skirts the ditch which would convert
her shell into a serving dish. She lives
below luck-level, never imagining some lottery
will change her load of pottery to wings.
Her only levity is patience,
the sport of truly chastened things.

9. Who would be a turtle who could help it?
A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,
she can ill afford the chances she must take
in rowing toward the grasses that she eats.
Her track is graceless, like dragging
a packing-case places, and almost any slope
defeats her modest hopes.Even being
practical,
she's often stuck up to the axle on her way
to something edible. With everything optimal,
she skirts the ditch which would convert
her shell into a serving dish. She lives
below luck-level, never imagining some lottery
will change her load of pottery to wings.
Her only levity is patience,
the sport of truly chastened things
Predators
Slow, can’t go over
hills, moving is a
struggle
Falls, she will flip
Can never leave
her bad life
The only thing she can do
is be patient, a hard task
Turtle’s have a hard life

10. Elements
O “A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,”
O Metaphor
O “Her track is graceless, like dragging
a packing-case places”
O Simile
O Very descriptive
O Creating imagery
O “With everything optimal,
she skirts the ditch which would convert
her shell into a serving dish.”
O Half rhyme

11. Elements
O Theme: Turtles (specifically females)lead
hard livesbecause of the many set backs
they face but they use their patience to
get over these obstacles.
O Tone: sad, disapproving
O Shift in tone= last line
O Hard on turtles, and then showing respect

12. Works Cited
O http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/kay-
ryan#poet
O http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/35
2
O http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/marc
h/kay-ryan-class-030810.html