“Minor Miracle” by Marilyn Nelson is a narrative poem about racism, redemption, forgiveness and hope. It tells the story of two friends who were almost hit by a truck while riding their bikes together. Instead of apologizing, the driver shouts racist insults at them and leaves. Then he comes back to apologize and leaves again. Additionally, the poem is titled “Minor Miracle,” and in a way, it is a true miracle of human compassion despite the color of their skin. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Since “Minor Miracle” is a free verse poem, it has no specific rhyme, meter, or structure. Yet the author takes us through the story in chronological order using vivid imagery and narrative techniques such as dialogue and diction. The speaker is one of two cyclists and the listener can be anyone in our society. Nelson begins the poem with “Knock-on-wood” which means “somehow you were lucky in the past (Oxford Dictionary). This prepares us for a story that may have dangerous factors that the author has managed to escape and which is of interest to readers. However, it is the resonant images that move us forward. They were riding bikes in "a small Midwestern town" on a "clear blue afternoon" that seems like a very pleasant, peaceful, ordinary day. However, when they come to a "4-way stop" and a truck passes them, almost hitting them, the problem arises. The way the author describes how they chat while stopping or the vehicle that almost hits them as "an old rusty pickup truck" allows us to imagine the scene happening at that moment as if it were was a vivid image in our heads: friends having a good time when a truck "hurricanes through," indicating a powerful and deadly force. Then she goes on to describe the man as a man with "stringy blonde hair with long bangs" and even with the detail of his cap as a "branded beer cap." With such details, the author already paints in our mind a small picture of the truck driver, but however leaves the judgment to the readers themselves since she does not specify his race, just a glimpse of his appearance. However, later, after the insult, she gives us a descriptive image of the man who is "a tall, very fit, young white man, snuck out" with "greasy jeans, homemade tattoos on fingers, probably a Marine Corps boot.” a camp full of martial arts techniques.” It is then that his race is mentioned (white) and raises the question of racism. Above all, the words "footlockerful", "martial arts techniques" emphasize a strong, perhaps aggressive male, who completely contracts with the one who clumsily pushes "the dirt with the pointed toe of his boot" all apologizing to them for his racist insults. Such description and choice of words transferred the emotion and visual to readers as if we were there with the characters at that very moment. Additionally, dialogue plays an important role in expressing emotion in the poem. The very first dialogue of the poem is the driver's racist insult to the cyclists "Fucking niggers." This is a very important piece of dialogue because with just 3 words, one person could hurt two other people, hurt them, insult them just because of their skin color. However, the subsequent dialogue between the young white man and the two friends partly resolved the problem. His apology for his wrongdoings and