The Way My Mother Speaks

Question 1

I say her phrases to myself in my head or under the shallows of my breath

Answer 1

The speaker is trying to keep the memories of her mother in her mind, close to her

Question 2

restful shapes moving

Answer 2

Thoughts of her mother calm and soothe her

Question 3

The day and ever. The day and ever.

Answer 3

The repetition is like the sound of the train ‘ever’ suggests forever because she will always be connected to her mother. This is one of her mother’s sayings

Question 4

browsing for the right sky

Answer 4

She had not yet found the right place to be, she is still looking.

Question 5

What like is it. The way I say things when I think

Answer 5

This is another of her mother’s sayings and her mother’s sayings are the language closest to her

Question 6

I am happy and sad like a child who stood at the end of summer and dipped a net in a green, erotic pond

Answer 6

She had mixed emotions and she sees this as the end of the most lush season/stage of her life but she wants also to try out cautiously the next stage of adult life

Question 7

I am homesick, free, in love with the way my mother soeaks

Answer 7

There are two links to her mother still and one link to freedom and independance