Mirror - “My mother’s body”
Marge Piercy grants, “My mother is my mirror and I am hers./What do we see? Our face grown young again,/our breasts grown firm, legs lean and elegant.” Psychoanalytically, Piercy’s mother is her Looking-Glass Self that embodies all the Piercy unconditionally appreciates. The physical resemblances mirror the physical link that activates their interminable connection.
Drophcloths - “My mother’s body”
The dropcloths are omnipresent in Piercy’s Memory: “I walk through the rooms of memory,/Sometimes everything is shrouded in dropcloths,/every chair ghostly and muted.” These dropcloths are emblems of the unconscious which obscures some of the reminiscences that Piercy has regarding her mother.
Intensity - “More Than Enough”
Piercy recounts, “The first lily of June opens its red mouth.All over the sand road where we walk/multiflora rose climbs trees cascading/white or pink blossoms, simple, intense/the scene drifting like colored mist.” June validates the passion of nature. The redness of lily, whiteness/pinkness of the roses indicates the superb nature of June, while the vastness of the colors broadcasts an exquisite summer.
Birthday - “The birthday of the world”
The birthday elicits contemplation: “On the birthday of the worldI begin to contemplate/what I have done and left/undone, but this year/not so much rebuilding.” The elite birthday connotes New Year’s Day, a celebration that may well herald a new beginning.
