read the poem then answer the questions below

“Identity”
Julio Noboa Polanco

Let them be as flowers,
always watered, fed, guarded, admired,
but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,
clinging on cliffs, like an eagle
wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surface of stone,
to live, to feel exposed to the madness
of the vast, eternal sky.
To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,
carrying my soul, my seed,
beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.

I'd rather be unseen, and if
then shunned by everyone,
than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,
growing in clusters in the fertile valley,
where they're praised, handled, and plucked
by greedy, human hands.

I'd rather smell of musty, green stench
than of sweet, fragrant lilac.
If I could stand alone, strong and free,
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.


Answer the following questions in detail.
1. Why do you think Polanco compares himself to a weed?
2. What kind of a person do you think Polanco is, from the way he describes “weeds” in his poem?
(Use evidence from the poem)
3. What kind of people do you think are the “flowers,” and what are Polanco’s feelings towards the “flowers” of our society? (Use evidence here, too)
*Now, consider what an "extended metaphor" is. Is Polanco's metaphor of himself as a weed effective? What does it say about him as a person?