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Poem for my Mother – by Jennifer DavidsThat isn’t everything, you saidon the afternoon I brought a poemto you hunched over the washtubwith your handsthe shrivelled.burnt granadillaskin of your handscovered by foam.

And my wordsslid like a ball of hard blue soapinto the tubto be grabbed and used by youto rub the clothes.

A poem isn’t allthere is to life, you said.with your blue-ringed gazescanning the pageonce looking over my shoulder and my wordsand back at the immediate being clencheddirty water. smaller and smaller

Contrasts other poems – creates false expectation

Aural meaning early in poem…

Repeated – emphasis

on aural…

Hidden connection between mom

& daughter – not just age/activity of mom

Something that consumes time

Taste… sour/bitter

White… clinical…

Snow… cold

Synesthesia of words/images/gestures/sound to

form specific meaning. Too unique?

Providing access to new vocabulary, adding

new meaning and universality: shunt, discard, evade, elude, avoid, dismiss, dodge

Exasperated, tired, disappointment

Contrast to the

speaker’s

expectations.

Links mom and

daughter – both

disappointed

Space: further away Afterwards

Space: close (on the moment)

Movement: static, uncomfortable

Violent manner: power relation?

Directly after: reaction