A decidedly modernist retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. This text features an older wolf with a taste for liquor who buys the innocent little girl her first drink, thus marking a turning point in her transition to girl into woman.
Havisham
Another poem inspired by existing literary creations. This time Duffy sets her verse to examining the true nature of the loneliness experienced by Dickens’ Miss Havisham through an intense dramatic monologue that allows the speaker to explain the absence of the usual “Miss” which precedes mention of her name. At her advanced age, “Miss” is the equivalent of the dread term “spinster.” The underlying stimulant for her idiosyncratic late-life behavior is the lack of loyalty in a lover.
Elvis’s Twin Sister
Elvis in real life actually was a twin, but his brother died shortly after birth. Duffy imagines Elvis having a twin sister; the really disturbing thing here is that that sister is pop superstar Madonna.
Salome
The infamous Biblical dancer of the veils responsible for John the Baptist literally losing his head has developed a taste for beheading. In fact, Salome has become something of a serial agent of decapitation.
Mrs. Lazarus
Another Bible story told from a feminist perspective asks readers to ponder what might be the result of Jesus’ decision to bring a man from back the dead on his wife who is already deep into the process of grief and bereaving. How would the wife of a resurrected man deal with such emotional turmoil?
The Dummy
Not an idiot, but a ventriloquist’s partner. In this poem as paragraph of narrative, the titular character has some tough questions for its alter ego.
In Mrs. Tilscher's Class
Duffy recalls being in her teacher’s classroom for the last time before moving onto the next grade. This poem is a meditation upon a rite of passage that is simultaneously liberating and threatening.
A strangely disquieting analysis of the trek some people make from being a mere outsider to becoming a full-fledged psychopath. Especially unnerving is the eye for detail Duffy engages to reveal how so many of these people can retain their attractiveness to others even when seeking deeper into darkness.
The War Photographer
In which the title figure is gradually revealed to be almost a spectral character existing between two dimensions—the world around him and the world captured in his lens—without quite fully belonging to either.
Not the movie star, but the relatively unknown and shadowy figure known as Mrs. Shakespeare. Duffy gives voice to yet another bystander hidden beneath the veil of a man’s story.
Valentine
The speaker gives an unidentified lover an onion on St. Valentine’s Day and then proceeds to exhibit why it such an appropriate gift for that day of love.
An allusive poem that also strikes a strong note radical revolt against class division as part of its Cinderella-esque tale of a young woman. The narrator is given the job by her rich mistress of wearing the woman’s expensive pearls in order to warm them up so that they are not cold against her old skin when she puts them around her neck.
We Remember Your Childhood Well
A parent attempts to reassure a now-adult kid that they enjoyed a very happy childhood. The language is ambiguous enough to suggest that it is a given that the child’s dim memory of an unhappy event did take place. However, the parent gains some sympathy by situating the response in terms of being accused without proper evidence.
Litany
The title refers to a litany, which is a prayer that is said by the priests in church before being repeated by the congregation. Metaphorically, this could refer to a long and boring list. The content of the poem shows a child pretending to read while listening to her mum and her friends gossip. The child growing up is shown by her ability to understand the women enough to shock them, which is how the poem concludes.
This is another in Duffy's the worlds wife series, focusing on the wife of the Greek myth King Midas. The poem explores through the feminist point of view, the wives reaction to such a selfish wish made by her husband, a wish that effectively ended their marriage. Duffy, however, focuses on the physical aspect of their relationship as they can no longer touch due to the Midas curse and explores the damaging effect this has on Mrs Midas, who is shown to be an extremely physical person.
Before You Were Mine
This poem acts as a simultaneous love letter and apology to Duffy's mother as throughout the poem Duffy describes her Mother when she was younger and before Duffy was born. She is said to be extremely vibrant and energetic, with a fun and spontaneous energy which Duffy feels that she stole from her mum when she was born.
