Poem and Report: Two Ways of Knowing a Street Tree
Ms. Byrd pairs two texts about street trees.
Text 1 - from a poem, "Street Tree": They planted me where the bus breathes. My roots lift the sidewalk like a slow argument. In July I hold a block of shade the width of one parked car, and the whole street leans in.
Text 2 - from a city forestry report: "A mature street tree intercepts roughly 1,400 gallons of stormwater a year and can lower nearby surface temperatures by up to 5 degrees Fahrenheit. A tree, however, needs about 20 years to reach full canopy, and repairing a sidewalk lifted by roots averages $1,200 per site."
Her students must explain how the two texts would make a reader feel differently about the same tree.
1. Explain one thing the poem shows that the report cannot, using a specific line.
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The poem shows the tree's own position. "They planted me where the bus breathes" gives the tree a voice and turns exhaust into something breathed on it - a relationship no statistic can record. "My roots lift the sidewalk like a slow argument" packs conflict and time into one comparison: the report can price the repair at $1,200, but it cannot convey the patient pushing that makes the damage feel like a struggle rather than a line item.
The report gives quantities (1,400 gallons, 5 degrees, 20 years); the poem gives an inside view. A complete answer names the line and explains what kind of information only that voice could deliver - not simply that the poem is "more descriptive."
2. How does each text handle difficulty or cost? Explain what the difference in emphasis suggests about each author's purpose.
Read the worked answer
The report treats difficulty as a cost to budget: 20 years to canopy and $1,200 per repair are stated flatly, in the same tone as the benefits, because its purpose is planning - readers are deciding whether to fund planting. The poem treats difficulty as friction among tree, sidewalk, and street, and never mentions cost; its purpose is to make a reader notice an ordinary object.
So the report's balancing of benefit against price and the poem's silence about price are both purposeful. A strong answer explains the poem's omission as a choice rather than an oversight, and does not claim the poem is "hiding" the cost.
3. A student says the poem exaggerates - "the whole street leans in" cannot be literally true - and is therefore less accurate than the report. Evaluate that reasoning.
Read the worked answer
The student applies a measuring standard to a text that is not measuring. "Leans in" is figurative: it suggests the street is drawn toward the shade, that the tree matters to the block. That is a claim about human response, not about canopy size, so no ruler could confirm or refute it.
The student is right about one thing: the claim cannot be checked the way "1,400 gallons" can. But "not factual" is not the same as "not true." Strong answers separate the kinds of truth each text pursues - the report establishes quantities that support planning; the poem captures attention and attachment - and then say which question each text is answering.