by Cynthia Rylant
“Waiting to Waltz: A Childhood” is a collection of poems written by Cynthia Rylant to capture the flavor of her hometown, Beaver, and her childhood. The overall tone of the collection is bleak with a litany of negative images.
Clearly, Beaver is a small town as witnessed in the line from the first poem, “Beaver” that reads, “Little strip of street called Beaver.” The poems paint haunting images of a storekeeper, Mrs. Todd, “she white-faced and silent.” A drunk who sits by the river day after day is referred to as a brain surgeon (scary thought!). The author’s house has no name and no number; her mom accidentally kills a dog in “Little Short Legs”. The author is taken to a Pentecostal church and terrified by the noise; I experienced exactly the same thing in my childhood at a Pentecostal church. The author lost a spelling bee, almost drowned in a swimming pool, offered bananas by a creepy old man, walked a frightened child home in a storm only to be abandoned in the storm herself, buried a dead cat, had mad dogs, and no father.
A neighbor, Mr. Dill, left, and no one noticed for three years. The author was left alone during the summer, and no one to make lunch for her. During the school year, playground bullies monopolized the schoolyard, and being boys left the girls no place to go. Her friend’s collie, Major, was killed by a car. Her father left when she was four and died when she was thirteen. The author prayed to be rich and Catholic to fit in with the popular kids, called her boyfriend a “pet rock”, and was “yelled to the cross” by a preacher while her mother wondered how she could be duped.
There were a few exceptions to these negative images. The author had a friend in Randy, and they both enjoyed talking to Sam, the shoe shop man. Her mother was a nurse and respected by the other children when an emergency arose, and the author did get to be a majorette in band.
I found this collection of poems to be beautifully written albeit sad and depressing in tone. Goodness! I would have run as far and as fast as I could to get out of Beaver as soon as I could had I been the author.
Lesson Plans at:
http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/lessons/waltzlp.htm
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1 comment:
I came away with a similiar feeling about Rylant's hometown, Beaver. Rylant conjured all those negative memories that we often remember from childhood. Her experiences living in Beaver, however, seem much more bleak than "normal" childhood memories. I found myself comparing this book to her other books about her childhood and this was the most revealing by far!
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