Summary

In “The Wild Iris,” an iris flower describes experiencing death and being buried in the ground, referring to the latter as “terrible” (1). Then, the speaker says, death ended. There was the sound of birdsong. The flower addresses the reader as “you,” explaining that it understands that you do not remember having experienced this for yourself. After this death, the iris found its voice again and felt as though it had a “great fountain” inside of it, running with “azure seawater” (1).

In “Matins (#1),” the speaker is the poet, Louise Glück. She describes a garden featuring a birch tree and flowers. A man named Noah tells her that “depressives” do not like springtime because of the “imbalance / between the inner and the outer world” (2). Glück believes she contradicts this notion because she is depressed but she feels a semblance of peace sitting in...