Apple: Skin to the Core

This section of the book is based on Abbey Road by The Beatles. It’s split into Side A and Side B, just like the album. For each poem, except the introductory poem “Dog Street,” a regular prose poem is followed by a rhyming poem of the same name. Each rhyming poem follows the meter and rhyme scheme of the corresponding Beatles song. The poems that this section summarizes are “Dog Street,” “Come Together,” “Something,” “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” “Oh! Darling,” “Octopus’s Garden,” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”

“Dog Street” contains two quotes, one from John Lennon and the other from the original treaty agreement between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the first European settlers they encountered.

“Come Together” is the first chapter that contains both a prose poem and a rhyming poem. Both describe Gansworth’s feelings after graduating from high school. He knew that he’d drift apart from his friends. His aunt and uncle who had moved to Las Vegas came to visit but seemed like strangers. It was their last visit.

“Something” depicts Gansworth jobless after graduating from high school. He was told not to bother applying for college because he couldn’t pay for the SATs.