Things I Learned Last Year

In my poem, I wanted to add things that I have learned in the past year, but I also wanted to relate the structure of the poem to be similar to Stafford's.


Things I Learned Last Year

When sloths poop they smile
and hug a tree

I advise you to not jump
down a flight of stairs

And naturally trying to do a magic trick
with your friend's dog
may end badly

Leave it too the professionals
to build a porch

Try to avoid the cafeteria food
not always, only sometimes

Only try to pet a squirrel
when it seems friendly
maybe not even then

Ketchup was actually
once used as medicine

The popsicle was invented by
an 11-year old

And this surprised me
the color of the twist-tie on
bread actually
means something


Reflection:
My last year has been very, well colorful. I actually learned a lot of things, all with weird stories of course, but interesting things nonetheless. These are more of random facts rather than personal life lessons. I wanted this poem to be lighter, and less dark and depressing. So, if I were to state the tone of the poem in one word it would probably be light. (Since the poem is a very light and carefree piece, filled with cool facts rather than facts or lessons you actually have to process) This poem, is similar to Stafford's, obviously the title's are different, but the general concept of the poems are linked. For example, they both discuss weird facts, where the audience's reaction would be, "cool".
Also, the structures of the two poems are the same. I may mention that I did switch the 3 and 4 lined parts of the poem because I wanted to end with that fact so I switched things up. But they both have 2 lines, 2 lines, 3 lines (which is like Stafford's 4) 2, 2, 4. The sequence is the same as in Stafford's poem, "Things I Learned Last Week".