Marks

Regardless to this poem being the shortest it really caught my attention only because it was so powerful. It starts off being a like a normal walk in the park and then the plot twists. It's very playful and using grades as a sense of approval, to me it seems that way at least. As little as this poem is its very filling. It kind of sadden me a little in the end because it obviously felt like the mother was taking her life away. As if her family was pushing her to the side and just treating her like a tool. The husband and the son seem to treat her like an old school housewife like it's her job to cook, clean, iron, and repeat. With today's women activist movements that wouldn't be a common thing to hear that a woman would be treated like that. House work I feel like its still acceptable but to a certain extent of receiving help from significant outher/spouse. Her daughter seems to be the baby, innocent and always looking for her mother's love. At the end when she says "I'm dropping out" that was definitely the plot twister at the end! my jaw kind of dropped. Here's a mother so fed up she's willing to throw in the towel. She places you in a house of pain and abuse. I could feel and see her sadness so vividly. She doesn't explain much but the little that she says is enough to understand that she's in an unhappy situation. Linda Pastan did a great job in placing us in a setting of darkness and curiosity. The cliffhanger makes you want to know more about how it ends or how it continues. I enjoyed all poems but I absolutely loved and was truly impressed by Marks.