Understanding beyond age
The poem “Old and Young” is a poem that presents a scene in which an old and young man meet each other’s eyes in the mirror in a dressing room backstage and begin to communicate and form a genuine understanding which transcends the age. The two men are “trapped but freed”, released by the burdens of commonalities, knowing that once the moment it’s broken something important will be lost, the place in nature where the two can meet will be gone.
A son and father
“Golden State” is a poem that is told from a perspective of a son whose father just died and who, in the poem, is reflecting on his father’s life and the lack of closeness and parental love he received. It is a poem about acceptance and understanding of a father who refused to be put into a box, who was “happy to be surprising, unknowable, unpossessable…”. It is about understanding one’s parent as a person beyond the role they played in one’s life.
Eating disorder
The poem “Ellen West” portrays a theme of an obsessive eating disorder of a woman called Ellen West. She refuses to eat, for the fear of aging and desire to “defeat Nature”. The poem is told from Ellen’s perspective, her thought processes and her loathing of food, as well as her judgement of other’s people appearances and behaviors. Ellen’s ideal is to be extremely thin, which resulted in her refusal of food which, in turn, caused her eating disorder.
