How Text Reveals Character: Poetry Practice Test

Read the following poem:

"Storm Warning"

The weather app paints the coastline

in urgent colors.

My neighbor boards his windows

like he’s sealing a secret.

I fill the bathtub, stack candles,

charge every device I own.

Preparation is my favorite prayer.

When the wind arrives,

it tests the trees’ faith.

In the dark, I listen

for the house to change its mind.

I hold my keys in my fist

in case leaving becomes necessary.

I sleep in my shoes.

Which inference about the speaker is best supported by “Preparation is my favorite prayer”?

Read the following poem:

"The Promotion"

My manager shakes my hand

and calls me “a natural leader.”

The conference room smells

of lemon wipes and ambition.

Coworkers clap;

their palms make a soft weather.

I say thank you,

hear my voice rise

to meet the ceiling tiles.

In my new office, the chair

is wider than my certainty.

I sit anyway,

placing my doubt

in the bottom drawer

with the extra staplers.

Which inference about the speaker is best supported by “the chair / is wider than my certainty”?