The Year of Billy Miller Part 4, Chapter 2 Summary

  • So now that they're prepping for the show, it's poetry all day every day for Room 2. Yep, that means Billy can't avoid writing his poem any longer.
  • The catch is that he has to decide what kind of poem to write. He wants the poem to be funny. And easy. And short. And a crowd-pleaser. Plus he really wants Ms. S to put a smiley face on his poem because that means it's ready for the show.
  • Billy's first attempt at a poem is just so-so. He goes for an acrostic (a.k.a. a poem where you write the letters to, say, MOM, vertically and then write a word or phrase that begins with each letter). It's a bit of a copout, though—Billy's acrostic reads My Only Mother—and we're thinking Ms. S isn't going to give it a smiley face (hint: we're right).
  • Never fear, Billy, because Ms. S has an idea. He should try writing a haiku (a.k.a. a three line poem where each line has a set number of syllables). Billy takes a stab at it and writes a haiku about how his mom likes volcanoes. There's just one catch: It's actually Billy who's a volcano fanatic. Oops.
  • So it's Ms. Silver to the rescue again. She says Billy should talk to his mom to find out what she likes, because that might be the perfect inspiration for a poem. Of course now Billy is also bummed because he's got homework.