Conversations
The collection begins with the poem titled "Conversations’’ in which the narrator has a conversation with a person who died. The conversation takes place in the narrator’s home while she sits on a coach and the dead person appears and touches the narrator.
The narrator is curious to know how it is to be dead but when the dead person opens his mouth to talk, a ‘’ball of yellow light’’ comes out of his mouth and burns a whole through the ground. The ball could signify in this case the harness of the truth and how humans are unable to fully understand it and deal with the truth. The dead person then begins to describe how it is to be dead, using a series of comparisons to make the narrator understand how it is like to be dead. The poem ends with the dead person claiming that death is just like he described it, but ten times worse, thus implying that humans cannot fully understand what it is like to be dead and what it is like to go through something like that.
Motherhood
The next poem is titled "Motherhood’’ and the main character is a girl named Peggy who talks to Saint Patrick. The reason behind this is that she wants to ask him about a snake she keeps on seeing and because her grandmother told her that it was Saint Patrick who drove away all the snakes from Ireland to Arizona. This may indicate that Peggy is actually and Irish immigrant who comes from a poor family.
Peggy is sure that there is a rattlesnake in her closet since she found the skin it shed and saw how one of their cats was bit and killed by the snake. Peggy is not so sad and angry that the rattlesnake killed the cat as she is because baby Florence saw the dead cat. Here, Peggy tells Saint Patrick that Florence is only three years old and she should not see such things at her young age. Peggy also asks Saint Patrick to make Florence believe that they will live forever, shielding her from the pain of knowing that one day everyone will die.
Next, the author talks about how she is pregnant again, thus hinting that baby Florence is her own daughter as well. It is however careful to note how the tone used until here is quite child-like thus implying that even though Peggy is pregnant once more, she could be just a child or adolescent. When Peggy talks about her new pregnancy, she talks as if it could not have been avoided. Even though she knew it was a sin, she could neither control herself or the circumstances under which she got pregnant.
Peggy asks Saint Patrick not to punish her girl for her sins and to let her pay for her transgressions. She talks about herself in this instance in the third person, almost as if distancing herself from everything that is happening around her.
Peggy then talks about her parents and their reaction to her pregnancy. While Peggy’s mother is disappointed in her, her father ‘doesn’t care’ and only asks Peggy to have a name for her child. Peggy’s father seems willing to accept everything life throws at him and from the way Peggy talks about him, the reader can understand that he is a positive person who lets his life be ruled by a higher power. Her mother is not the same and she insists that the baby needs to have a father, even if it is just on paper.
This also shows the stigma girls had to face if they had a child outside of marriage during the time when the poem was written.
Peggy notes how her mother’s attempt to give her daughters a father is just a sham and her child has only grandparents who work hard every day while she stays at home and takes care of her child. Peggy realizes that she is on her own and has to deal herself with the snake so she goes inside her room and tears down the wall with a shovel. The next morning, Peggy wakes up but does not feel afraid because she feels protected by the Virgin Mary because she is pregnant. This idea is important because even though Peggy knew she sinned against God, she still hopes she will be protected because of the unborn child inside of her and because he does not deserve to be punished for her actions.
Next, Peggy talks about the man she got pregnant with and mentions how she could not stay away from him even if she tried. She compares him with another snake she warned her daughter not to touch but she notes that she could not listen to her own advice when it came to men. She also lets it be understood both her children are fathered by the same man and that she should have been more careful when he first bit her and not wait for him to bite her again.
In the next day, Peggy goes into labor and in the same day, while she is home alone, she sees the snake coming from her closet. Peggy kills the snake before passing out. The killing of the snake is important because in this context, it shows that Peggy is done with letting men ruin her life and will live independently from that point on.
The next part of the poem is also important because Peggy dreams that snakes are crawling all over her but that she can’t escape them because the snakes are part of her. This dream can be considered as being a prophetic one, showing that no matter how much Peggy tries to kill her desires, she can’t because they are a part of her and it would be as if trying to get rid of one of her limbs.
The next part of the poem takes place in the hospital where Peggy gave birth to her child. For a short period of time, she finds relief and protection from the nurses and from the nuns who come to her and congratulate her for what she had done. But things are different once Peggy returns home and her mother reprimands her for killing the snake which according to her, cursed her child. The poem ends with Peggy realizes that the snake she killed was also an expecting mother.
Interview with a Policeman
The next poem is titled "Interview with a Policeman’’ and the poem is comprised of a dialogue between a policeman and a mysterious person who interviews him. The policeman begins by telling how even if he will tell the truth, the end result will be distorted by the people who will publish the story to say what they want it to say. This shows how more than often, the reality we are presented with is not really reality, but rather a distorted version made to fit a certain agenda.
The story told by the policeman is that of a black kid he shot. According to him, he was entering a liquor store which was robbed by a black child with a gun. The kid dropped his gun and the policeman fired only when he took the gun once more and started firing at no one in particular. The policeman recalls how he saw the kid fell down and how terrified he was when he realized what was happening. The policeman crawled towards the child to see him die, with a stream of blood coming out his mouth.
It is important to note how the policeman is not portrayed in a negative light. He talks about the violence in the neighborhood and how he was affected by the event. He mentions how he has to see every day young children having their lives ruined by alcohol or drugs and how there is almost nothing he can do to help them. The poem ends with the policeman talking with the reporter and mentioning how the reporter will be affected by what he has heard but only for a short while and how the world will forget everything in a short time.
Disregard
The next poem in the collection is entitled "Disregard’’ and the main characters are a couple. From the way the couple is described, one could reach the conclusion that they are either low or middle-class and that they are working most of their time. The narrator talks about her day and how she can only see her partner at the end of it and for a short period of time. This poem shows how the working class is sometimes affected by the harsh living conditions the have to deal with and how those elements eventually affect their relationship with their partner and family on a profound level.
Grandfather Says
The next poem is entitled "Grandfather Says’’ and in this poem, the main character is ten years old and plays hide and seek with him. The grandfather rubs the little child between her legs and the narrator claims that even though she does not know what it means, she likes it. She compares the pleasure with eating candy but then claims that the feeling can’t compare and that in both cases she must lie to her grandmother when she asks about what is happening. While it is not said explicitly, it is implied that the grandmother knew what was happening and put a stop to what was happening.
The narrator remembers what happened only in her adulthood when she was asking herself why she was feeling attracted to men who disgusted her. The narrator remembered how her grandfather used to abuse her and how she wondered why her grandfather was acting the way he did. While the young girl knew that it was wrong, the grandfather claimed that she was old enough to know what was happening.
This poem shows the reality of child abuse and how the children, when they are abused from a young age, more than often don’t realize that they are abused. Instead, because they feel on some level, pleasure, they associate it with something positive and are even willing to lie to hide what is happening to them. However, just like it happened for the young girl, some children grow up to remember in their adulthood what happened to them and suddenly they can understand better why they behaved in a certain way until then.
The next poem is titled "Woman to Man’’ and the action takes place in a bedroom, after the woman and the man are done having sexual intercourse. It is implied that the man feels guilty because he sleeps with the woman but the reason why he feels guilty is because the woman he sleeps with is black. The man is even afraid to be with the black woman because of her race. The poem ends with the two claiming that the two will never mix, not in bed and also not in real life as well.
This poem is important because it explains the racial relationships between the white population and the black population in America. Ai Ogawa was born in 1947, a time when the racial segregation was still a big part in the lives of many Americans. The whites who had relationships with black women or men were frowned upon and even criticized for their actions. Because of this, while interracial relationships exited, almost everyone denied them and refused to admit that they were in love with a person they were not supposed to be with.
Riot Act, April 29, 1992
The last poem is titled "Riot Act, April 29, 1992’’. The author begins by stating that she will go out to get something, anything that she can find. She looks at the windows and at the merchandise exposed and knows that all she has to do is break the window and get what she wants from the stores and from what is exposed there.
The narrator talks about the looting that took place during the riots and how many people who looted were later discovered and exposed on national television. Many of them were later tried for their crimes and the narrator mentions how they were dragged away to be charged and hanged for what they did.
