The Best of the Body
The poem is divided by the author in three distinctive parts, each dealing with a particular organ in the human body. The first organ analyzed is the spleen, described as being highly vascular and superior to every other organ in the body. The spleen is even called a God, the narrator emphasizing its superiority even more. The spleen's superiority its given by its vascular qualities, or either by the amount of blood which circulates through it. In the second stanza of the first part, the narrator describes the area where the spleen is located and names it as being a "fine neighborhood" which it controls. The last line of the poem identifies the spleen as causing "black bile", associated in ancient literature with depression. Thus, what the narrator transmits through the description of the spleen is the power depression can have over a person's life.
The second part discusses the liver and the way in which alcohol can influence a person. Liver is linked with feelings of anger and also, as a way to make reference to the excuses a person may invoke when getting involved in reckless behavior. The last feeling comes from the heart and it is described as being the source of every feelings which a person experiences. Th heart, while not described as being more powerful than the spleen, it is more powerful than the brain.
Botanical Fanaticism
Through this poem, the narrator recalls her childhood and also the experiences her mother had to go through because of her skin color. The first stanza is used by the narrator to describe the environment in which she grew up and through this image a chaotic pictures is painted. Violence, single mothers, unemployment and frequent riots were the everyday norm for the narrator and for her mother, racism and being treated as if she was an insect without any reason to be alive. As a child, the narrator recalls wanting to be white and how she felt as if the only way to be clean is to be racially white. Still, as time passed on, she realized cleanliness has nothing to do with the color of one's skin but with who they are as a person.
Lessons from a Mirror
There are two characters described in this poem, the first one being the narrator and the second one, Snow White. The narrator imagines Snow White at her wedding, wearing a wedding grown which many do not even notice because of her skin color. In the third stanza of the poem, the narrator claims she is most unseat by the character's name which implies purity and also superiority. The narrator fears she will never be able to escape from Snow White's shadow and that she will always be forced to worship her.
The poem analyzes the racial tensions between African Americans and the white population which will always behave as if they are superior and deserving of praise. The narrator feels as if there is no way she can escape from this vicious circle she finds herself in and this conflict creates a large number of tensions and problems. As the narrator suggests, there is little hope things will change in time for the better and the most likely result is that things will remain the same, no matter what.
The Culture of Near Miss
The narrator addresses another character, someone who is outside the poem and whose efforts went into making someone else "breath" or brought someone else into existence. This effort affected the lives of the characters in such a way the outside world was affected as well in a drastic way. This change also extended to the universe as a whole especially when the boy dies.
The boy's name is revealed to be Jerdy and the last part of the poem is used by the narrator to express her hopes of being remembered by the boy who just passed. Still, the narrator can't stop from thinking about all the experiences the boy will miss and all the people the boy will never get to meet because he is now gone. The narrator also uses this argument to explain why she will never give up loving the boy who died.
