Summary

In “The Healers,” the speaker reflects on the call for doctors to rise and identify themselves during public emergencies. Playing on the multiple definitions of “rise,” she states “I was not the one he wanted to rise from / or return to” (33). Comparing herself to his new lover, who shares his medical profession, she addresses the unequal nature of their chosen labor, as “rise” further suggests the nobility of his profession.

In “Left-Wife Goose,” Olds constructs a collage of nursery rhymes and popular riddles, reworking the familiar fragments to apply to her separation. This highlights the absurd humor of her loss and of the sources she alludes to, exemplifying metapoetry (poetry about poetry).

“Something that Keeps” uses botanical and agricultural imagery to explore the futility of preservation against inevitable processes of decay. Beginning with the image of a wreath that will last a year...