Temporality
Harwood demonstrates a preoccupation with time in her poetry. Titles like "Anniversary" and "Last Meeting" are actually signposted as statements of temporality. In fact these two poems provide commentary upon one another when considered as a unit. Whereas an anniversary is a celebration of the survival of something over the course of a year, the last meeting implies finality. For whatever reason this meeting will never repeat, and thus will not celebrate an anniversary. What makes the anniversary significant is that it did not necessarily need to happen. It is the case that time could have brought an end to whatever event or union is being celebrated long before the year had ended, just the same as the couple's relationship in "Last Meeting" is come to an end.
Memory
Harwood mentions memory in several of her poems. It appears to serve an especially personal function for her, as something personally meaningful and symbolic. "Anniversary" ends each stanza with the repetition of the phrase "Remember me." This not so subtle signal alerts the reader to a sort of nostalgia which Harwood is trying to express. When she has abandoned everything else -- daylight, sound, work, -- she continues to hear these words in her mind. Additionally, "Triste, Triste" ends with the same phrase in quotation. As if her own resurrection were dependent upon memory, Harwood clutches onto this phrase as life itself. Her existence, or at least her poetry, appears to be characterized by her need to memorialize the past.
Regret
Once more pertaining to time and memory both, regret is another major theme in Harwood's poems. "Last Meeting" contains multiple hints at a sense of regret. If the relationship cannot survive, then Harwood feels compelled to regret. Words like turncoat, foolish, and wrecked all express a guilt-loaded remorse. Without this person in her life, Harwood realizes the extent of her regret over not having sacrificed for the preservation of the relationship. Though a different protagonist, the woman from "In The Park" experiences a similar regret. When she bumps into an old friend or lover, she is embarrassed by her children. They represent responsibility and obligation to her, compounding a profound regret over her lost youth and freedom.
