Free verse poem- little punctuation, enjambment, line length (long and short lines)- imitates conversational style. Poem for my Mother Poem for my Mother diction: uncomfortable position. She has dedicated this poem to her mother. The mother does not approve,she is indifferent to her daughters 1. That isn’t everything, you said 2. on the afternoon i brought the poem writing. 3. to you hunched over the washtub 4. with you hands metaphor- compares mom's hands to a shrivelled, burnt granidilla. 5. the shrivelled Shows that mom is a hardworking lady and that her mom's hands 6. burnt granadilla are quite worn. 7. skin of your hands 8. covered by foam. similie: words are being compared to a ball of soap. The same way that soap your hands and disolves quickly in water, her words by the mother. Shows how mother disregards her feelings. 9. and my words quickly slips through 10. slid like a ball are quickly forgotten 11. of hard blue soap 12. into the tub 13. to be grabbed and used by you 14. to rub the clothes 15. a poem isn’t all 16. there is to life, you said The mother is very tired, she is overworked. 17. with your blue-ringed gaze 18. scanning the page Diction: The mother takes a quick look at the page. 19. once looking over my shoulder 20. and back at the immediate 21. dirty water 22. and my words Her 23. being clenched 24. smaller and 25. smaller. Jennifer Davids XXX words are getting rejected Poem for my mother by Jennifer Davids This poem describes a tender moment between the mother and her daughter. Yet despite the closeness of their relationship there’s a constant awareness that in sophistication and in a mere approach to creativity there is a huge gap between the two of them. It leaves me to wonderding why there is that gap. The poem opens with the mother’s response to the poem of the title . In a sense her response is surprising as it seems a harsh rejection of the poem and the child’s gesture of having written a poem for the mother. Her response immediately shows that the mother is a practical person, possibly she has no appreciation for poetry at all. Later she declares that a poem isn’t all there is to life but it suggests that she could have been irritated not having any time for such things as creative writing and emotional sensitive expression. There different point of views are highlighted in contrasts such as “your hands” “my words”. The speaker is aware of the way the mother has to work. She describes her as hunched suggesting that she has had to spend a great deal of time washing and her hands have “shrivelled burnt grenadella skin”. This description of her hands emphasises her age and the harsh effects of long years of washing using the hard soap. This could be why a poem means so little to the mother. It is far from her own experience and her life. She is practical and hard working. Her life is one of physical hard labour, soap and foam and rubbing clothes . The speaker has written a poem something more academic and theoretical working with words and showing emotions The start of the second stanza returns the focus to the poem. The way the mother responds to the poem is compared to the way she uses a ball of hard blue soap but a poem cannot be literally grabbed and used to rub the clothes. It is a more figurative and fragile creation than a ball of hard soap . The speaker realizes that the words and feelings expressed in the poem are not understood or grasped by the mother who has grown up in a very different and restricted environment. There is some despair in the speaker as the words are “grabbed” and “used” rather than read and appreciated. The first lines of the thirds stanza are a blunt rejection of the poem but the next lines provide some kind of explanation. “Her blue ringed gaze” suggests that her life has been one hardship. She has rings under her eyes that are ironically the colour of the soap she uses. While the speaker longs for her to stop washing and read and appreciate the poem she has no time. She simply glances once at page. Note, not at the words or the images, and does this looking over the speakers’ shoulder not sitting or standing beside the speaker in an act of interest or intimicy. She then turns back to her work, what she sees. She cannot be bothered to appear interested even though https://www.efal.co.za/12Prescribed/Poetry/Poem%20for%20my%20Mother%202.docx 2022/02/14, 20@43 Page 1 of 4 the focus of her interest is the immediate dirty water . The word immediate shows where her interest lies and what is important to her: getting the washing done. This act is final and very hurtful to the speaker. The mother’s indifference is painful but even more painful is the fact that she is more interested in the unappealing dirty water than in the poem written for by her child. The speaker’s sadness and hurt at seeing the poem being so disregarded is conveyed in the last lines. The poem has been offered with great excitement and enthusiasm, clearly the speaker wanted approval and attention from the mother but the words like the soap are clenched and the delight of creating the poem and the expectations of the speaker diminish in the same way as that piece of soap becomes smaller and smaller as it is used in the vigorous rubbing of clothes. Eventually, quite quickly it becomes utterly insignificant. The pressing needs of reality and the present have created a distance between the mother and the speaker. You could discuss why this distance exists. Is it just a generation gap or could there be other reasons? Feelings of the poet We are a poor family. My mother, however, makes sure that I go to school. She wants me to get a good education. Since I have discovered the magic of words, I am spellbound by it. I adore words. I also see what my mother has to endure at home to keep me in school. My father, what can I say... He leaves his marks all over my mother. If my father should come home sober, I would not recognise him. My mother, protects us from my father. I adore my mother. Today I have written a poem for her. In school, I composed a beautiful poem for her. I am going to give her the poem, to show her how much I appreciate her. Later, in the afternoon. Mother is in the yard, washing our clothes. We cannot afford a modern washing machine. She washes it in a washtub. She has to bend over the tub, and scrub away the dirt on our clothes. I go out and give her the poem. She looks at me, and looks at the poem. You know Jennifer, life isn’t just about writing stuff. I notice her hands are all shrivelled from the water. It looks like the skin of a burnt granadilla. He hands are covered by foam. You look at what I have written. You understand the words that I have written, like you understand the ball of blue soap that you use to wash our clothes. You understand my words like you understand how you must use the soap to clean our clothes. You keep on saying that life is not just about writing stuff. I know you want to teach me more about life and protect me from life. I can see the blue rings around your eyes where dad... You scan my poem with those eyes, and you look nervously over my shoulder as if you are expecting someone. You then look at the dirty water in front of you. It is as if you want to tell me that you hope I would never have to wash clothes in dirty water like that. I know my words have touched you because you clench the poem in your wet hand and the poem becomes smaller and smaller. I have touched you, maybe you don’t show it in your words and in your eyes, but the way you clutch the poem shows me that you care. QUESTIONS 1. What is not everything? 2. What are the hands of the mother compared with? 3. Why does the poet use the soap image to describe her poem? 4. What is the blue-ringed gaze? 5. Why did the mother look over the poet’s shoulder? 6. What does the dirty water represent? 7. What does the clenched poem mean in the hand of the mother? QUESTIONS 1. 1.1 Compare the attitudes of the mother and the daughter towards the daughter's poetry writing. 1.2 How does this seem to affect the relationship between mother and daughter? 2. What do you think the poet is trying to say about the mother's life? Quote from the poem to support your view. 3. What do you think is the theme of this poem ? 4. Give one word to describe the tone- of the last stanza. https://www.efal.co.za/12Prescribed/Poetry/Poem%20for%20my%20Mother%202.docx 2022/02/14, 20@43 Page 2 of 4 5. Identify and explain the figure of speech in the last four lines of the poem. SUGGESTED ANSWERS 1. l.lThe daughter seems enthusiastic about the piece of writing she has just produced: she brings her mother the poem, obviously for her approval and comment-After her mother's dismissive glance and comment she feels let down and clearly doubts the value of her efforts, ("my words/ being clenched/ smaller and/ smaller") The mother's attitude is dismissive and abrupt ("A poem isn't all/there is to life") and conveys that she is too preoccupied with chores to pay much attention to her daughter's poem. 1 .2Clearly their relationship is not one of closeness and understanding at this stage; each is involved in her own world, rather oblivious to the problems of the other. 2. It is suggested that she is experiencing hardship; she seems to be bogged down by chores and consequently does not have the time or energy to attend to her daughter's needs. Her gaze is "bluetinged", suggesting that she is tired. Her skin is like "shrivelled burnt granadilla" , indicating that she works hard physically. Perhaps it also suggests that she is poor. 3. Mother-daughter relationship/ Lack of communication etc. 4. Disappointment/deflation/dismay etc. -2745. Metaphor: the words of the girl’s poem are being compared to the piece of soap with which the mother is doing the washing. The words disappear and dissolve “smaller and smaller” until they are as meaningless as a piece of soap. Jennifer Davids Poem for my Mother Notice the form of the poem: irregular line lengths; no punctuation; run-on lines. Look at the clever construction of the last stanza. Conversational tone. 1. Give 2 interpretations for the title. 2.1 What is the attitude of the 2 characters in the poem to the poem? 2.2 What do you think the relationship between the 2 characters is like? 3.1 Using evidence from the poem, what can you deduce about the class / social background of the mother? 3.2 How would your answer in 3.1 help to explain the first line of the poem? 3.3 Explain the reference to the "granadilla skin" of the mother's hands. 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 What is the effect of comparing her words to "a ball of hard blue soap"? The mother pays very little attention to her daughter's poem. What does it tell us about her priorities? How does the form of the last stanza reflect the meaning? What is the tone of the last stanza? Poem for my mother Jennifer Davids 1. Written for / dedicated to her mother by her; brought to her mother for attention, written by someone else; this poem is about mother therefore her reaction to the first poem 2.1 Mother dismissive, too busy, unimpressed; daughter enthusiastic, appreciative 2.2 Not close, warm, not much understanding of each other's interests 3.1 Poor, working class - blue-ringed eyes, tired, hands worn by work 3.2 Poetry - a luxury; she's focussed on the practicalities of life, survival 3-3 Metaphor; skin is so wrinkled it looks like granadilla skin, therefore also dark from working 4.1 Hard - no feeling; blue - cold, harsh; soap used to wash disappears as you use it; Mother is rubbing away / diminishing her poems 4.2 Very different to daughter's; can't survive on poetry. Practical woman, earthbound 5.1 Small / short stanza, just as she feels words are being silenced / squeezed into nothingness 5.2 Disappointment, deflation https://www.efal.co.za/12Prescribed/Poetry/Poem%20for%20my%20Mother%202.docx 2022/02/14, 20@43 Page 3 of 4 That isn't everything, you said on the afternoon i brought the poem to you hunched over the washtub "isn't everything" - _________ isn't important or has meaning "hunched" - washing is a task she _________ not _________ enjoy with you hands the shrivelled burnt granadilla skin of your hands covered by foam. shrivelled burtn granadilla skin" - metaphor - hand have been _________ in water for a very long time, skin is _________ and purple Contrast between _________ and daughter: daughter is _________, mother not. and my words slid like a ball of hard blue soap into the tub to be grabbed and used by you to rub the clothes poem becomes ball of soap: poem has been _________ to nothing more than _________, which dissolves in water "grabbed" "used" - mother's _________ attitude to girl's poem a poem isn't all there is to life, you said with your blue-ringed gaze scanning the page once looking over my shoulder and back at the immediate dirty water Repetition - "a poem isn't all" emphasises mother's _________ towards daughter's creative efforts "blue-ringed" - tired and _________ and my words being clenched smaller and smaller. "and my words" - poem _________ to nothing by mother's attitude, becomes more meaningless as soap becomes smaller. "smaller" - last line - creates _________ effect Form: conversational Mother's attitude: _________- grabbed, used, scanning. Daughter's attitude: _________ slid, clenched, smaller https://www.efal.co.za/12Prescribed/Poetry/Poem%20for%20my%20Mother%202.docx 2022/02/14, 20@43 Page 4 of 4
