"Go to your wide futures"
This quote from the mother is the only line of dialogue in the entire poem. It is a direct quotation from the mother, who is the addressee of the poem and the praise song. Yet, in an inversion, here the mother is praising and encouraging the narrator to go to her wide futures. There are multiple "futures" at stake within the poem. The first is the moment of utterance, which the speaker is recalling. The second is the time period after the mother's death, the present from which the speaker is composing the poem. Another "future" at stake is that after the poem, as this is from the last line of the final stanza, into which both the writer and the reader proceed.
You were
water to me
deep and bold and fathoming
This is the first stanza of the poem, which uses metaphor to compare the mother to water. Water is a frequent subject of metaphors, yet Nichols employs original and fresh adjectives in the third line to describe both her mother and the water. She highlights the mother’s powerful (“deep and bold”) and penetrating (“fathoming”) effect.
You were …
... the fried plantain smell replenishing replenishing
This is the final metaphor of the poem, which compares the mother to the smell of fried plantains. The repetition of the word “replenishing” underscores the mother’s nourishing effect on the speaker, which seems to be continued into the present. Cooking plantains, which are a staple food of tropical South American cuisines, is likely something that the speaker does often. Thus, each time she does so, the presence of her mother will be conjured. The employment of the often-overlooked sense of smell makes this an especially powerful final metaphor.
