take the moon
nd take a star
when you don’t
know who you are
paint the picture in your hand
nd roll on home
take my fear
nd take the hunger
take my body
when i’m younger
paint the picture in your hand
nd roll on home
take my ghost
nd make the claim
stake it out
to feel the pain
paint the picture in your hand
nd roll on home
take the moon
nd make it talk
take your soul out
make it walk
paint the picture in your hand
nd roll on home
take my anguish
take the air
make it into
my despair
paint the picture in your hand
nd roll on home
take my anger
nd the greed
make it into
what you need
paint the picture in your hand
nd roll on home
take my pride
nd all my joy
take my woman
nd take my boy
paint the picture in your hand
nd roll on home
paint the picture once again
i’m rollin home
- Who is the speaker in this poem? What do we know about them?
- What does the refrain make you think of: “paint the picture in your hand / nd roll on home.”?
- What rhyming pattern has the poet created? How does that shape your reading of the poem?
- How would you describe the mood of this poem?
- If you were reciting this poem, how would you handle its rhythm and rhyme? (It would be very easy to fall into a sing-song delivery.)
- Write a poem that includes a refrain. As a variation, use the refrain or two other lines from “howlin at the moon” as your refrain.
Wayne Keon, "howlin at the moon," from Sweetgrass II. Copyright © 1995 by Wayne Keon. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Source: An Anthology of Native Canadian Literature in English (4th ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2013)