"I mend my father's net at dawn, my fingers raw with salt and thread. He sleeps now; the boat waits for me." Who is the speaker in these lines?

"Aling Rosa waves from her sari-sari store. She smiles at every jeepney that passes. I wonder what she is thinking behind that smile." What can the speaker NOT know?

A poem begins, "I walked to school in the rain." Who does the word "I" name?

In a poem, what is the persona?

"My lola counts coins in the dark. She says nothing about the storm. I think she is afraid, but I cannot ask." Which statement about the speaker do the lines support?

"I carry salt and rice across the strait. My deck is hot, my engine hums all night. The port lights of Iloilo call me home." Who or what is the speaker?

"Anak, the rain will find your window tonight. Close it before you sleep. I will be home when the last trip ends." Who is speaking, and to whom?

A poet who has never left Manila writes a speaker who farms in Benguet. Which conclusion is fair?

"My knees are slow on the church steps now. I have swept them for forty years. The bells still know my name." What do the lines show about the speaker?

"Ash falls on our roof like gray rain. Mother covers the well with plywood. The mountain has not stopped smoking since Tuesday." Where is the speaker?

"From my window I count the tricycles. The drivers laugh at something I cannot hear. One of them looks up at me." What does the speaker actually know?

A poem published this year is spoken by a man rowing a boat in 1890. What does this show?

"We carried the chapel bench through the flood. We slept on the school stage for three nights. We are still counting what the river took." Who is the speaker?

Which question can be answered by the poem itself rather than by research about the poet?

A poem's speaker says he hates the sea. What may a reader safely conclude?

"I pull the plow while the sun bites my back. My horns are heavy, my hooves sink in mud. At noon the boy leads me to the river." Who is the speaker?

"Balik ka na," my brother says on the phone. I hold the receiver and say nothing. Outside, the rain keeps falling on the parking lot. Who is the speaker of the poem?

"The bus pulls away with my sister in it. I wave until the dust hides the road. Manila is far. I do not know the rest." What lies outside what the speaker knows?

Why should a reader not assume that the speaker is the poet?

A poet writes a poem in the voice of a market vendor in Divisoria. What does this persona let him do?