EATING POETRY - MARK STRAND
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth
There is no happiness like mine
I have been eating poetry
The librarian does not believe what she sees.
Her eyes are sad and she walks with her
hands in her dress
The poems are gone.
The light is dim.
The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.
Their eyeballs roll, their blond
legs burn like brush.
10
The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep
She does not understand
When I get on my knees and lick her hand.
she screams.
I am a new man,
I snarl at her and bark,
I romp with joy in the bookish dark.
1.1 Explain the metaphor in the title.

1.2 (1.2.1) Refer to stanzas 1 and 2. What has happened to the speaker?
Quote in support of your answer.
1.2.2 In terms of the extended metaphor, what happened to the poems
that they are gone' in line 7?
1.3 Account for the change in the librarian's behaviour.
1.4 The first and last stanzas support the same idea. Explain.
1.5 Identify the tone of the poem.
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