I catch sight of the man
on route to the mountain's summit.
He carries with him a recycled Coke bottle
secured to a small pack.
But the man also hefts his weight
inside a sweat-stained XXXL red tee shirt.
He's what I call a fat man--
a fat man who doesn't exercise,
a fat man who engulfs food,
a fat man who lives only to become fatter and fatter.
He turns at my approach
then drops his eyes
as they meet the expression in mine
I pass the fat man swiftly, with disgust,
wondering what could drive him
to attempt the summit.
When I glance back with this question in mind,
my eyes drop to the legend on the red tee shirt:
I'm hiking for the National Cancer Foundation
I caught sight of the man
on route to the mountain's summit.
He carried with him a recycled Coke bottle
secured to a small pack.
He was heading upward.
He was on a mission.
-Niall Janney
34 comments:
Mood- hate, disgust
setting/image- on a big rocky mountain with a fatman running then a person walks by him.
message- don't judge a person by the outside.
jessew.
K.P.M.
For a first time reader of this poem i find it a little sad, only because alot of people do that, they see someone over weight man or women, and jump to judgement. It sad too because in the poem they also stero typed the over weight guy, instead if giving him a chance. :( I think taht sometimes people should just back off and look at other people and pick out the good things instead of the negatives.
S.W
KPM
The image I saw while reading the poem was a fat man climing up a mountain with an empty bottle of coke.
The mood I felt was sorry for how fat the fat guy was.I think the message of the poem was to never judge a book by its cover.
davi f.
k.p.m
image/setting was a fat man walking up a hill
massage:is don't judge people by first impression
greg A.
kpm
its about this man, who's fat, and people judge him, but its mean to judge, because it hurts peoples feelings.
Abby P.
L.F.P.S
I thought this poem was kind of sad because people really do judge people quickly, without thinking of the good qualities or getting to know them.
Kurtis C.
L.F.P.S
I thought this poem was sad. It really goes to show that people shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Although the poem was good, it was done by a good poet, i thought that maybe they could have been a little nicer about the subject. The choice of words could also have been a little nicer. I think this poet should try and make more poems, i'd be interested to see what other subjects the poet would use. Hopefully the poet wouldn't use a subject like this one. Don't judge a book by it's cover!!
I thought this poem was sad. It really goes to show that people shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Although the poem was good, it was done by a good poet, i thought that maybe they could have been a little nicer about the subject. The choice of words could also have been a little nicer. I think this poet should try and make more poems, i'd be interested to see what other subjects the poet would use. Hopefully the poet wouldn't use a subject like this one. Don't judge a book by it's cover!!
Torie S.
L.F.P.S
I thought this poem was sad. It really goes to show that people shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Although the poem was good, it was done by a good poet, i thought that maybe they could have been a little nicer about the subject. The choice of words could also have been a little nicer. I think this poet should try and make more poems, i'd be interested to see what other subjects the poet would use. Hopefully the poet wouldn't use a subject like this one. Don't judge a book by it's cover!!
Torie S.
L.F.P.S
This poem is sad. Over weight people are jugded too easily, in my opinion. This poem proves it. People jump to conclusions, without knowing the persons.
Amy C.
L.F.P.S
This poem is a little sad. It makes me think how people just judge others by how they look, they may not even now what the other person is trying to accomplish. If someone sees an overweight man, they usually think they are lazy and worthless, they may not consider that the man is trying to bring beauty to the world.
Caelin M.
LFPS
At the begining of the poem I felt sad because of how some people look at the way people are and are disgusted. I dont think it's right to judge a person you dont even know by there size. In this poem is shows that you can't always judge someone on how they look because they could be a wonderful person inside. i liked this poem alot because it descibed the saying you can't always judge a book by it's cover.
RobinS.
L.F.P.S.
When I started to read this poem I thought that the writer was being a bit rude, but as I continued I realised it was trying to say that you shouldn't see someone for what they look like, see them for who they are.
Margo H.
L.F.P.S
I like how the writer is thinking all the stuff one man dosen't do then looks back and realizes he's doing something good to help. This poem's like the expression "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
Mackayla N
L.F.P.S
I think poem is very sad . how can you said that about a men.?
Vanessa N
L.F.P.S
This poem reminds me of the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover". When he first saw the fat man his thought he was disgusting and that he never exercised, but when he looked back and read on his tee shirt that he was hiking for cancer he relized that he was wrong that that the fat guy was on a mission.
Lesley-Anne L
L.F.P.S
I thought this poem was insparational. I thought it gave a good example about why you should live a healthy lifestyle.
Hillary McG
L.F.P.S
The author portrayed himself as very conceited and self-righteous but also very blind. He would not have thought better of the man if he did not see his tee shirt stating that he was walking for a good cause. He would have continued on thinking he was superior when in our oppinion, he is far below in comparison with the overweight man, who would struggle for something important to him rather than sit around and eat like the author thought he would.
Cat F., Amy C.
L.F.P.S
I felt that this poem was extremly disturbing in the beginning. It was extremly judgemental and harsh. The message was very clear to me from the first prespective of the person judging the fat man. I was relieved to find out that in the end the person who was disgusted by the fat man changed his/her mind. The author, in my opinion, made sure that the reader should know not to make judgemental comments about people that he/her does not know. The appearance of a person is only his/her shell. There is always so much more on the inside!
Shannon F.
L.F.P.S.
This poem is a little sad because that the kid is thinking bad things about the fat man and that would make anyone sad. This poem is also mean because of all of the mean things that the kid was thinking of.
Holly D.
KPM
Mood - mean, sad, disgust
Setting/image - a fat man walking up a mountain with an empty coke bottle
Message - don't judge a book by it's cover
Holly D.
KPM
Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb DumB!!!!
I felt really bad and that was a good use that shouldn't be put down for doing something that would change somebody's life! I am proud that he would do somthing like that atleast some people care.And he is obviusly not ashamed of his weight!
the title makes me think alot about if the poem is going to be about a fat man or a skinny man who thinks that he is fat. but when i read it i think this Niall person is realy maen and show think as if he were the fat man how would he feel. then by the end i show that Nialls frist see of him was the wrong thing and he sees that this FAT MAN is trying his best. i thibnk thatv there is alot of poeple out there that feel like this FAT MAN but some are not fat they just wont to fit in. i think that the auther should maby think of a new name. But then again FAT MAN works!!!!!
it was a very funny poem.
J.D.Hodgon
Kayliegh W.
i think this poem isn't the nicest of all poem's because it's talking about a fat man and there judging a person because of there looks which is also almost the same as judging a book by it's cover but worse anyone is capable of what they want to do, people only do that because they have nothing better to do then to critize people because of there size which isn't fair!.
I think it was funny but deep.
you did a excellent job on these
very cool.
Bradley c
KPM
at the start of the poem i thought it was funny but as the poem went on it talked about the guy who is telling the story looks at the "fat mans" t-shirt and see's that he was running for cancer.
Gill.G
k.p.m
I think that the poem,"Fat Man" was so upsetting because someone walking by would judge someone else because of the way he looked. It just goes to show that society today is even more shallow than we thought. If this poem could be shown to the whole world it would probably change the way some people think. Especially because the "Fat" man was hiking to the summit for cancer not to lose his own weight but to help someone else in need.
Meaghan. W
KPM
Dont judge a book by its cover is the moral of the poem.
No one should think like that about any one instead they should feel bad for them this poem teaches us that judging people before you know them hurts, let this be a lesson so no one needs to be hurt by words or thoughts because who knows that person could be a boss ;) it just takes 1 courageous person to do something spontaneous and then a whole group of people decide what that person did was awesome and they join. ♡
No one should think like that about any one instead they should feel bad for them this poem teaches us that judging people before you know them hurts, let this be a lesson so no one needs to be hurt by words or thoughts because who knows that person could be a boss ;) it just takes 1 courageous person to do something spontaneous and then a whole group of people decide what that person did was awesome and they join. ♡
No one should think like that about any one instead they should feel bad for them this poem teaches us that judging people before you know them hurts, let this be a lesson so no one needs to be hurt by words or thoughts because who knows that person could be a boss ;) it just takes 1 courageous person to do something spontaneous and then a whole group of people decide what that person did was awesome and they join. ♡
♡
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