Blog Entry 8: Poem Paraphrase

The poem I chose to paraphrase from the Kennedy textbook is Ted Koosher's "Abandoned Farmhouse"(788-789).

There was a pair of large shoes found on a pile of broken dishes in an old abandoned farmhouse. The man who wore them had to be a big man. He was also tall, judging from the length of the bed in the upstairs bedroom. He was a God-fearing man because the Bible lying on the floor under the window had a broken back from being read often. He wasn't much for farming, though, as the fields had many boulders in them and the barn roof leaked.

We know that there was a woman who lived in the farmhouse with the man because a wall of the bedroom is covered with lilac, the kitchen shelves are covered with oilcloth, and they had a child. We know that they had a child because there was a sandbox made from a tractor tire.

We know that they had little money, judging from the jars of canned tomatoes and plum preserves found down in the cellar. The winters were most-likely cold since rags were stuffed in the frames of the windows. The narrow country road was not inviting to visitors, so they were lonely.

We assume that something went wrong because the house was empty and the yard was covered with weeds. The stones in the fields had not been removed for farming and the jars in the cellar were still sealed. They had to leave quickly. The child's toys were strewn all over the yard. There was a rubber cow, a rusty tractor with a broken plow, and a doll in overalls. People believe that something went terribly wrong.