Catcher in the Rye Poems

Poems of Catcher to Reflect the Bottom of the Pond

"When I Find it Fit"
Tonight I laughed,
I laughed and I laughed,
Something I thought of
Before dinner had past.
Fell out of my chair, and onto the floor,
Where I continued to laugh,
More and even more.
My parents were concerned,
Thought my stomach had turned.
But it was OK, because I soon learned,
That Holden thought of me,
As a pretty funny guy.
And his face lit up,
It lit up like the sky.
My brother's so cool,
While I watch him Tee-off.
I hope he won't be mad,
When to heaven, I go off.

"That Ackley-kid" by Holden
He hardly ever went anywhere. He was a peculiar guy.
But that Robert Ackley wasn't particularly shy.
Obnoxious you could say. Repulsive and weird,
One of those guys, you'd normally steer clear.
But annoying as he was, always getting in my stuff,
I thought of him as a friend, someone un-phony enough.
He did what he pleased, didn't care what people thought.
Which is why he was in the dorm,
By himself he would rot.
But he'd found me and I'd been there,
To keep him amused, so he thought I would bear,
To have him around, in my room, on my bed,
He doesn't even listen, till ya smack him in the head.
He's an OK guy, I guess you could say,
That he was my friend, in some sort of way.



"Myself, Yourself" by Holden
I'm the most terrific liar you've ever seen in your life.
I can cut tension like butter with a knife.
It's really quite simple,
And really quite fun.
But once I get started, I'll never be done.
You can throw what you've got,
Throw me off, just you try.
But I'll bounce right back,
Like the Catcher in the Rye.
Because I'm so smooth, I can just get away
With all those lies, tsch, you won't make me pay!
You can't tell can you?
That I'm a liar at heart.
Every other guy on the street, you can't tell me apart.
And I know this, and that's exactly why
I can exploit your mind, I'm just that sly.
I know how you think, you god damned phony.
What you put yourself up as is just a load of bologna.


All of my poems are a look deeper into the minds of the characters. The three that I have done focus on Allie, Holden and some of Ackley. I tried to give insight, using knowledge from the book, into how they actually think. Just by reading the book you could understand that Holden thinks differently/ uniquely, so I was trying to show that with these thoughts, you could relate to him with how you think.
My first poem was a first-person perspective as Allie. Not much was said about Allie in the book except for a few parts where Holden was describing his old baseball glove. With everything there, it seems like Allie was a fun, enjoyable kid, who also broke into uncontrollable laughter every so often. Since we didn't get much about him, I decided to create a scenario that gives more depth into what kind of person Allie really is and why Holden misses him/ loves him so much. I also thought I'd add how Allie loves Holden. It may have given some clues in the book, but you still don't get much out of it, so I created thought for Allie of Holden.
The second poem is also a first-person perspective, this time as Holden, as I create a dialogue of a rant on how good a liar he is. Lying is a major theme throughout the book, so I decided to capitalize on Holden's lying. Starting off with a line from the book, "I'm the most terrific liar you've ever seen in your life." I followed it up with a few ideas that were mentioned in the book by Holden. There was also a line, "But I'll bounce right back, like the Catcher in the Rye." I was hoping to use that line as support to the fact that what Holden wants to become the Catcher in the Rye, and wants to grow as a person, to be able to simply bounce back, even if he doesn't yet know it himself. So far, I don't think Holden knows much of himself, but he is struggling to by trying new things. He's really insecure about how he is now, which is also why he constantly fabricates lies.
The last poem was a description of Ackley from Holden's point of view. Ackley may not have had a huge part in the story, but his character was very important in learning more about what kind of person Holden is. The fact that Holden is basically friends with Ackley shows that he appreciates people who don't try to act like anyone but themselves. I started the poem by speaking like Holden trying to be superior, but as the poem progresses, Holden realizes that Ackley's not so bad of a person, then slowly he realizes that Ackley's a person he's become comfortable with. That also shows how Holden kind of gets to know a little bit more about himself as a person, understanding how he thinks of others.