Certain Choices (Wise moves or something, maybe pathways to avoid.) Richard Shelton
My friend who was a heroin addict, is dead and buried beneath trash (How did the speaker feel about it?) and broken bottles in a prison field. (How did the broken bottles get there?)
He died, of course because of the way he lived. (How did the speaker's friend lived? Bad childhood?) It wasn't a very good way, but it kept him alive. When it couldn't keep him alive (What to keep him alive?) any longer, it killed him. (What killed him?) Throughly and with great suffering. (Did he suffer of pain or grief?)
After he had made certain choices, there were no others available. (I think it's trying to say that choose wisely) That's the way it is with certain choices, and we are faced with them so young. (Did the speaker had to do that? At a young age?)
I have few friends, and none of them are replaceable. (What are the speaker's motivation for not replacing his friend?) That's the way it is with friends. We make certain choices. (Maybe wise choices about something)
Rating: ***** Analysis:
The poem, 'Certain Choices', by Richard Shelton, the overall tone is sadness and the mood of the poem is sadness, since the speaker had lost the friend in prison, knowing that no one would be able to replace his best friend, even though the speaker had other friends. The general idea that I got from this poem was, in life, there will be difficulties along the way to choose the right path and some, will not be available.
The line that supports the main idea is, "When it couldn't/keep him alive any/longer, it killed him." It connects to the general idea is that the speaker's friend had chosen a dangerous choice, which it might have resulted something terrible, because the line was stating that it couldn't keep him alive any longer, so it was saying that it was the wrong choice to go to. And it caused the friend to die.
Another evidence that can support the general idea of the poem is, "After he had made certain choices,/there were no others available." It resulted that the speaker's friend had ran out of options that were not planned ahead and there was no other options that the friend could take, but at the end, there was nothing that the friend could do to rescue him/herself from there.