Mary's Rwview of Amber's Poem

This reader's first impression was visual. The outlined shape of this poem draws this reader to it right away, attracting my attention to the poetry. Visually the layout resembles the embodiment of a woman's figure. When ...the boy whispers something unintelligent...the sense is that clearly (the She) description of ...the boy...is of a child, most likely her child. It feels this way because the boy whispers something of an unintelligent nature, possibly because of his exposure to the violence, which appears to this reader what this poem is about: Violence this woman has in her life. At the risk of intellectualizing, this reader would add that battery of the mother is battery of the child, and this child in this particular work has seen abuse and, therefore, has been abused and his own growth impaired. The fact that ...she slides to the floor and breaks when he comes to the door...is indicative of the woman's fragility: Her state of being being vunerable, physical and mental. The female subject of this poem experiences ultimate helplessness and loss of control within her own strength. The poem is short, but is effective in this particular piece because of its nature and the visibility of the layout which I believe resembles a woman: Clever.