Meehan’s mother has not passed down much to her
Little has come down to me of hers
Quote showing that Meehan’s mother slaps her
the sting of her hand
across my face in one of our
wars
Quote showing the distance that had grown between Meehan and her mother
we had grown bitter and apart
Meehan is regretful because she could have started afresh with her mother
We might have made a new start
Labels used to box women in
tags like mother, wife/sister, daughter,
Meehan never visited her mother’s grave
I’ve never gone back to visit her grave
Sensuous image of her mother cleaning
lavender polish. The smell/would percolate back through the flat to us,
Rhetorical questions about Meehan’s mother’s true self
Did she net a glimmer of her true self?
Did her mirror tell her what mine tells me?
History of oppression of those in poverty and women has both literally and figuratively brought Meehan’s mother to her knees
knowing history has brought her to her knees.
Meehan’s mother was the centre of her chilren’s world
an intricate orbit about her
Mother is repurposing and old dress of hers for Meehan
remake an old dress for me
Mother’s direct speech talking about the quality of the dress
‘Pure lambswool. Plenty of wear in it yet.
Meehan’s mother describes humiliating experience with her father
- He dragged me in by the hair – it was long as yours then – in front of the whole street
- he scrubbed every spick of lipstick and mascara off my face
Irony of mother’s protectiveness over daughter
It’ll be over my dead body anyone harms a hair of your head,’
Mother worked hard to finish the dress for Meehan
She must have stayed up half the night/to finish the dress
Meehan did not appreciate the dress at the time
To me it spelt poverty, the stigma of second hand.
Meehan was dreaming of escape from poverty
I was sizing up the world beyond our flat
Quote describing urgency of river but also of her dreams
I’d watch
the Liffey for hours pulsing to the sea
Meehan dreaming of exotic locations
it would carry me to Zanzibar, Bombay, the land of the Ethiops
Quote suggesting sadness and hopelessness of mother’s life
wrapped
entirely in her own shadow, the world beyond her
already a dream, already lost.
Harsh onomatopoeia of the mother’s knitting needles creating negative atmosphere
Her steel needles sparked and clacked
Mother’s practicality in choosing more muted shades
She favoured sensible shades: Moss Green, Mustard, Beige
Standalone lines to highlight difference between mother’s muted colours and daughter’s dream of multicolour
(She favoured sensible shades: Moss Green, Mustard, Beige)
I dreamt of a robe of colour/so pure it became a word
Two similes in which the verbs seem to be mixed up highlighting imagination of child
- swam like a kite too high
- flew like a fish
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Poetic techniques18
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The Fish33
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Filling Station17
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Questions of Travel22
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The Prodigal26
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First Death In Nova Scotia17
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Macbeth34
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Comparative - Sive16
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Comparative - The Shawshank Redemption14
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Comparative - Small Things Like These17
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A Constable Calls13
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The Forge8
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A Call7
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The Underground9
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Postscript10
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The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks23
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Death of a Field12
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The Pattern29
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Buying Winkles15
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Prayer for the Children of Longing8
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The Exact Moment I Became a Poet9
