"Marks," Linda Pastan

Linda Pastan was Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1991 until 1995. In addition to being a mother and wife, she also writes poetry covering topics such as "family life, domesticity, motherhood, the female experience, aging, death, loss and the fear of loss, as well as the fragility of life and relationships."

My husband gives me an A
for last night's supper,
an incomplete for my ironing,
a B plus in bed.
My son says I am average,
an average mother, but if
I put my mind to it
I could improve.
My daughter believes
in Pass/Fail and tells me
I pass.  Wait 'til they learn
I'm dropping out.

Linda Pastan's "Marks" tells the story of a mother who is never able to fully satisfy her family. Each member of her family uses a different grading system or set of "marks" for evaluating the mother's performance. Her husband gives her letter grades, her son ranks her, and her daughter either passes or fails her. However, the ambiguity of the title also suggests that the "marks" may be much more than grades, and perhaps evidence of the mother's mental and emotional suffering.
In addition to the metaphor of marks as grades, the author also uses an extended metaphor to convey the frustration and exhaustion experienced by housewives and students alike. The poem lists the many household duties the woman's family expects of her, such as cooking and cleaning. Similarly, students often sit in boring classes with unhappy and unfair teachers who expect their students to get good grades while still participating in other activities and doing hours of homework every night. Both in school and at home we're held to standards that are too high. Though we may recognize that "if (we) put (our) minds to it (we) could improve," there comes a point when we find ourselves asking "what's the point?" Eventually these "marks," whether emotional, mental, or physical, become too much, and so like the mother in the poem, we "drop out." Only then do people recognize our hard work and accomplishments and discuss our worth and value.

"Singapore," Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver was born in Ohio in 1935, and writes both poetry and prose. She publishes a new collection of work almost every year. According to The Poetry Foundation her main themes “continue to be the intersection between the human and the natural world, as well as the limits of human consciousness and language in articulating such a meeting.” The New York Times described her as “far and away, this country’s best-selling poet.”

In Singapore, in the airport,
A darkness was ripped from my eyes.
In the women’s restroom, one compartment stood open.
A woman knelt there, washing something in the white bowl.

Disgust argued in my stomach
and I felt, in my pocket, for my ticket.

A poem should always have birds in it.
Kingfishers, say, with their bold eyes and gaudy wings.
Rivers are pleasant, and of course trees.
A waterfall, or if that’s not possible, a fountain rising and falling.
A person wants to stand in a happy place, in a poem.

When the woman turned I could not answer her face.
Her beauty and her embarrassment struggled together,
and neither could win.
She smiled and I smiled. What kind of nonsense is this?
Everybody needs a job.

Yes, a person wants to stand in a happy place, in a poem.
But first we must watch her as she stares down at her labor,
which is dull enough.
She is washing the tops of the airport ashtrays, as big as hubcaps,
with a blue rag.
Her small hands turn the metal, scrubbing and rinsing.
She does not work slowly, nor quickly, like a river.
Her dark hair is like the wing of a bird.

I don’t doubt for a moment that she loves her life.
And I want her to rise up from the crust and the slop and
fly down to the river.
This probably won’t happen.
But maybe it will.
If the world were only pain and logic, who would want it?

Of course, it isn’t.
Neither do I mean anything miraculous, but only
the light that can shine out of a life. I mean
the way she unfolded and refolded the blue cloth,
The way her smile was only for my sake; I mean
the way this poem is filled with trees, and birds.

In her poem “Singapore,” Mary Oliver uses the situation and setting in order to show the beauty of every person, place, and situation. For example, when the speaker stumbles upon the woman cleaning toilets in the airport bathroom, “a darkness was ripped from her eyes,” and she is inspired. She finds a new subject for her poem and grabs her ticket to jot down her thoughts. She describes the elements every poem should have: birds, rivers, trees, a waterfall. “A person wants to stand in a happy place, in a poem.”
Yet the Singapore airport bathroom is a stark contrast from the setting of a happy poem.
Throughout the poem she tries to convince herself that this is a beautiful situation. She recognizes the beauty in the woman's face, but dismisses her embarrassment. She pays close attention to details such as her small hands. She also equates characteristics of the woman to the elements of a happy poem. For example, the woman "does not work slowly, nor quickly, but like a river." In addition, "her dark hair is like the wing of a bird." The speaker also doesn't "doubt for a minute that she loves her life."
However, eventually the speaker realizes that she cannot make the woman's pain into a "happy place, in a poem." Though she states that she wants the woman to "rise up from the crust and the slop and fly down to the river," she knows this probably won't happen. And yet Mary Oliver has made a beautiful poem out of a dark and dirty setting and a dismal situation. She uses her poem, it's situation, setting, speaker, and details in a unique way to show "the light that can shine out of a life" that may otherwise be overlooked.

"Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins

Named "the most popular poet in America" in the New York Times, Billy Collins is known for his wit and humor in his observations of the everyday, particularly reading and writing.

I ask them to take a poem   

and hold it up to the light   

like a color slide 

or press an ear against its hive. 

I say drop a mouse into a poem   

and watch him probe his way out, 

or walk inside the poem’s room   

and feel the walls for a light switch. 

I want them to waterski   

across the surface of a poem 

waving at the author’s name on the shore. 

But all they want to do 

is tie the poem to a chair with rope   

and torture a confession out of it. 

They begin beating it with a hose   

to find out what it really means.

Billy Collins's "Introduction to Poetry" explores the problems many encounter when reading or studying poetry. Like the readers in the poem, we tend to "tie the poem to a chair with a rope and torture a confession out of it." We often "beat it with a hose to find out what it really means" instead of discovering what it means to each of us individually.

The poem's logical and rational progression parallels the way Collins wants readers to approach a poem. His conversational tone and use of simple language also conveys that understanding a poem does not have to be a complicated, never ending search for meaning. Rather, he encourages readers to interact with a poem: to look at the structure and style, listen to the words, and feel the message. His use of sensory details and action verbs, such as "hold," "press," "watch," "walk," and "feel," convey this active interaction. In addition, his imagery of the natural world, such as light, bees and mice, and the ocean, encourages readers to stop, take a step back, and appreciate the beauty of the words, to experience the poem and appreciate it as a form of art, and most importantly, to determine what it means on a personal level.

This poem may even be an extended metaphor for life and our constant need to know everything and to have constant control over every aspect of our lives rather than letting go and living in the present, appreciating life for what it is.