Maple Street Poem

To suggest the age of the tree that the speaker climbs

To highlight what objects the speaker enjoys sketching

To reveal the location of the tree in the speaker’s neighborhood

To emphasize the height from which the speaker observes the neighborhood

uncertain about taking the chocolate Jamie Hamlin shares

surprised to learn the street is named for Jamie Hamlin’s tree

thankful to have Jamie Hamlin as a neighbor

jealous of the store Jamie Hamlin’s family owns

like I said,

there’s his tree. (lines 12–13)

With my sketchbook

and colored pencils, (lines 14–15)

I can see

the whole neighborhood. (lines 30–31)

hidden by these

green and paper leaves, (lines 33–34)

the maple tree is the most noticeable object on the street

streets should be named after features found near them

the street originally had a different name

people disagree about the meaning of the street’s name