Foot rub
In the poem "Don’t Be Like Those Who Ask for Everything," the author talks about the types of people she met during her life and how some of them only demanded things without giving anything in return. She then mentions how some would give foot rubs, a symbol used here to make reference to the things people do for one another, things that sometimes do not benefit them but others and actions they do for the simple reason they want to help someone.
Live frugally
One of the common ideas presented in the poems and also promoted by the author is the idea that humans must live frugally. The poet mentions this idea time and time again and does everything she can to make the reader understand the need to live without thinking about the future and what consequences our present actions will have on our future.
The water
The narrator of "Desire" talks about her desire to stick her toe in a body of water but ending submerging herself completely. The body of water is used here as a symbol for the desire tempting the narrator and to suggest her inability to control herself when it comes to them.
A fat broom
In the poem entitled "Desire," the narrator talks how she uses a fat broom to sweep away all the dead leaves in her path. The dead leaves could be a symbol that stands for the author’s desires and the fat broom a symbol that is supposed to transmit the idea that the author was using her will to control her desires.
The basket
In the poem entitled "I Will Keep Broken Things," the author mentions among the things she decided to hold on to, a broken slave basket. During the time when slavery still existed, baskets were used by slaves almost every day and they were also among the things they produces. Thus, the basket is used here as a symbol that stands for the life and hardships the slaves had to endure.
