“Minor Miracle” by Marilyn Nelson is a narrative poem about racism, redemption, forgiveness and hope. It tells the story of two friends who almost got hit by a truck while riding their bicycles together. Instead of apologizing, the driver hurls racist insults at them and drives away. Then he comes back to apologize and leaves again. Furthermore, the poem is titled “Minor Miracle,” and in a way, it is a true miracle of human compassion despite skin color. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Because “Minor Miracle” is a free verse poem, it has no specific rhyme, meter, or structure. However, the author takes us through the story in chronological order with the use of vivid imagery and narrative techniques such as dialogue and diction. The speaker is one of the two cyclists and the listener can be anyone in our society. Nelson begins the poem with “Knock-on-wood” memory which means “some way you were lucky in the past (Oxford dictionary). This sets us up for a story that may contain some dangerous factors that the author has managed to escape and that interests readers. Yet, it is the resonant images that keep us going. They were riding in “a small Midwestern town” on a “clear blue afternoon” that appears to be a very beautiful, quiet, ordinary day. However, when they come to a “4-way stop” and a truck passes them, almost hitting them, the problem occurs. The way the author describes their gossip as they stop or the vehicle that almost hits them as “a rusty old pickup truck” allows us to imagine the very scene that is happening at that moment as if it were a living image in our own head: Friends are having fun when a truck "passes a hurricane", indicating a powerful and deadly force. Then, he goes on to describe the man as a boy with “stringy blonde hair with a long fringe” and even detailing the cap as a “brand name beer cap.” Already with these details the author draws a small image of the truck driver in our mind, but leaves the judgment to the readers themselves since she does not indicate his race, but only a glimpse of his appearance. However, later, after the slur incident, he gives us a descriptive image of the man who is "A tall, very fit young white guy" with "greasy jeans, homemade tattoos on his fingers, probably a boot of the Marine Corps- field locker full of martial arts techniques.” This is when his race (white) is mentioned and raises the issue of racism. In particular, the word “footlockerful,” “martial arts techniques” emphasizes a strong, perhaps aggressive male who completely contracts with the one who awkwardly pushes “the dirt with the pointy toe of his boot” while apologizing to them for his racist slur Such description and choice of words transferred the emotion to the readers and the vision as if we were there with the characters at that very moment. Furthermore, dialogue plays a significant role in expressing emotion in the poem is the driver's racist insult: “You fucking niggas." This is a very important dialogue because with just 3 words a person could hurt the feelings of two other people, hurt them, insult them just because of the color of their skin. However, the subsequent dialogue between the young white man and the two friends partly resolved the problem. His apology for his mistake and the way he feels really embarrassed about it (pushing the dirt with the pointy toe of his boot) makes us feel like there is a common human compassion, that people feel