The poem “In the Park” depicts a mother sitting in a park with her three children. The tone of the situation is fairly negative, with the children unable to entertain themselves.
A former boyfriend walks passed them by coincidence and she is forced to make some smalltalk. As they seem to not have seen each other for a while, they superficially talk about her life, which appears to be entirely focused on her children, both reciting stereotypical phrases about the joy of staying home with kids.
After he has left, she sits down again to breastfeed one of the children and confesses (to no one) how the children have destroyed who she used to be.
The poem “Anniversary” follows the grieving speaker through the seasons for a year.
Even though they slowly begin to forget most of what their loved one said, they are unable to forget two words “Remember Me” and the frequent allusions to stone imply that these words are engraved on the tomb stone.
In the last lines of the poem, the speaker begins to accept that these words will always stay with them.
The poem “Barn Owl” begins with the speaker, a child, sneaking out of the house at dawn to go to the stable, taking their father's shotgun with him. Their goal is to kill the owl who has just returned from the night's hunt to sleep in the barn during the day.
The speaker fires at the owl, but is shocked when it not simply falls dead but messily moves around in death agony.
The shot has awaken the father who rushes into the barn and forces the speaker to end the owl's suffering, which they do, crying in their father's arm afterward.
