Poppies - Jane Weir

COMAPRE TO: Remains, Kamikaze, Exposure

Themes:
 Loss:
Poppies focuses on the loss of the speaker’s son
(whether he dies or left to go to war, its ambiguous).
“I listened hoping to hear your playground voice
catching on the wind”

 Memory:
The memories of her son (before war or when he was alive). Follow her around.
“play at being eskimos like we did when you were little”

 Maternal care:
The speaker in the poem is a mother to someone who left to fight in the war. She reminisces
on her life with her son.
“smoothed down your shirt’s upturned collar”

Structure:
There is no rhyme scheme or overall structure (freeform), it shows the woman’s unfiltered
thoughts and memories. (enjambment).

Quotes:
1. “I pinned one onto your lapel”

2. “yellow bias”

3. “all of my words, flattened, rolled, turned into felt”

4. “released a songbird from its cage”

5. “leaned against it like a wishbone”