To give back to your motheron the occasion of deatha handful of bonesshe had given to youon the occasion of birth?
It almost seems like the author is playing with the ideas of life and death, almost as if when someone dies they go back to the beginning, some kind of real destination.
a mouth, open like a chasm,was not like that when he kissed herthere, quietly,
The mouth is described as a deep pit, or a chasm. This is more imagery similar to our last example where the mouth of the skull seems profound, and dark.
his skull, not like any other skull.Two eyes or holes
She says the skull she was looking for is unlike any other in the mass grave she was looking through. The eyes are described as holes, which creates a picture in my head of deep black holes as eyes in a decrepit skull.
What good luck!She has found his bones.The skull is also in the bag
The author has found what she was looking for. Maybe she was looking for specifically the skull.
She burns like a shot glass of vodka.She burns like a field of poppiesat the edge of a rain forest.She rises like dragonsmoke to my nostrils.
All comparisons made in this poem are made in the form of similis and metaphors. Instead of just adjectives.
like a sack of dry ice.She burns like oil on water.She burns like a cattail torchdipped in gasoline.
There is a simili used here when he says, She burns like oil on water. Like a cattail torch dipped in gasoline
A skirt of flamesdances around herat dusk.
This is an example of personification. Or giving human characteristics to inhuman objects.
The cry I bring down from the hillsbelongs to a girl still burninginside my head. At daybreak
The screams are due to a burning image in the authors head.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
She is saying to send all those that have been beaten down by life and discouraged. She is also saying she can provide a door of oppurtunity for those who show.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
This part of the poem sounds like it is from the perspective of the statue of the woman. She is calling upon those who are weak or down on life.
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Sounds like another statue but of a woman is being described. These statues seem to be more then just art work to those writing about them.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
This could be a reference to the Colossus of Rhodes. The statue limbs are described as conquering and they stride from "land to land" Hinting at huge strides with requires huge legs.
The kilt, devised for workers To wear among the dusty clattering looms. Weavers, carders, spinners. The loader, The docker, the navvy. The planter, the picker, the sorter Sweating at her machine in a litter of cotton As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields:
These lines really show you how uncomfortable it would be to work in one of these shops. As well as saying that there were slaves there who worked in the fields.
A third before he dropped her put her arms Around his neck and kissed him. Then he held Her into space, and dropped her. Almost at once He stepped to the sill himself, his jacket flared And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down, Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers—
The fact that dropping the people out of a window off a building to escape a fire when there should be more then one way does not effect this guy. Shows how these awful working =conditions numb you to seeing the real issues as they are.
The witness in a building across the street Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step Up to the windowsill, then held her out Away from the masonry wall and let her drop.
People across the street saw the sweatshop catch fire. They witnessed someone drop a girl out of the window to avoid the fire.
Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter, The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union, The treadle, the bobbin. The code.
Although we do know sweatshops are not safe working conditions. People are not treated humanely and are forced to do this labor all day.
Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break Or talking money or politics while one fitted This armpiece with its overseam to the band
The sweatshop environment is being described here. It seems to be a comfortable workplace, besides the name, "sweatshop."
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?
This last part hints at the delayed dream being a heavy load. The dream in question is equality. We know how this has been stopped or delayed in the past. The ideology of equality in society is a heavy load, and there is definitly a chance it explodes and spreads.
Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?
He is comparing dreams, and how they get delayed or stopped to food.
with a wild, headlong motion for the game he loved like a country and swiveling back to see an orange blur floating perfectly through the net.
Even though he lost his balance on the play, he had already layed the ball of the backboard. And as he went down he got to see it pass through the net.
fanning out and filling the lanes in tandem, moving together as brothers passing the ball between them without a dribble,
These players seem to have been playing together for a long time. The poem makes it sound like they play very well togather and have good chemistry.
and a man letting the play develop in front of him in slow motion, almost exactly like a coach’s drawing on the blackboard,
This play they are doing is something that they have been working on with their coach. It is described as almost exactly like how the coach would draw it.
the other guard scissoring past a flat-footed defender who looks stunned and nailed to the floor in the wrong direction,
The guard got the ball and is running down the court. He beats his man and leaves him looking lost it says.
perfectly, gathering the orange leather from the air like a cherished possession
The tall skinny canter snags the ball easily out of the air. We can clearly see the play in our heads starting to form. The vision of whats going on in this poem.
nd for once our gangly starting center boxes out his man and times his jump
Describes the center as gangly. Meaning tall, skinny or maybe uncoordinated. he "for once" boxed his man out which sounds like he doesnt do it often.
cultivation of strength to heal and enhancein the non-cheering dark,in the many many mornings-after;in the chalk and choke.
She is calling upon those who have been beaten down and shut down by the world.
Overwhat wants to crumble you down, to sickenyou. I call for you
Author is saying shes calling on us to stay strong. She says she knows that society will try and crumble you down and sicken you.
I call for youcultivation of victory Overlong blows that you want to give and blows you are going to get.
Young going to get knocked down. There will be set backs. The author is is saying it is inevitable.
Dark gardeningin the vertigo cold.in the hot paralysis.
Author is calling for strength. Telling her audience to be strong no matter what. Through the darkness cold and paralysis.
And though I had no Gown of Gauze ‑No Ringlet, to my Hair,Nor hopped for Audiences ‑ like Birds ‑One Claw opon the air
She is saying even though she didnt offer much to the crowd, they still appreciated her and her work.
A Glee possesseth me,That had I Ballet Knowledge ‑Would put itself abroad
Something possesses the author making her believe that she has knowledge of ballet and giving confidence.
I cannot dance opon my Toes ‑No Man instructed me ‑
Reading this can show you that the author may be an independant person. She was never taught ballet but she still performs is what it sounds like.