Photographs

Photographs, which appear in several poems throughout the collection, act as symbols of historical documentation. For example, the poem “Scenes from a Documentary History of Mississippi” features several photographs of people in Mississippi in the 20th century. Each of these photographs is analyzed and explored for their historical content as the author creates stories for each of the subjects of the pictures as a means of keeping their stories alive. Thus the photographs become more than mere objects, and actually function as concrete evidence of lives once lived.

The Fig

The fig in the poem “After Your Death” is a symbol for the emotional and mental decay that takes place under the surface whenever someone has experienced some sort of tragic event. In the case of the speaker, this tragic event is the death of her mother, which she is left to deal with in the...