The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
The high level of sensory imagery crammed into this poem reveals how overwhelmed and out of control the speaker feels. Here, he is subjected to scent—and to an extent taste—as well as a kind of tactile dizziness. The amount of activity happening here, and the range of senses evoked, make the reader feel just as engulfed in sensation as the speaker does. Meanwhile, the mention of whiskey raises questions about the father's drinking: is he feeling playful after a glass of whiskey, or is he hurting his child, spurred by substance abuse?
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
This is another key moment in the poem’s construction of ambiguity. We know unambiguously that the mother expresses disapproval of the wild interaction happening in her home. However, the reader's interpretation of the context surrounding this scene also determines the degree and tone of that disapproval. If the reader believes the dancing to be innocent play, they will consider the mother's frown to be an expression of calming, appropriate caution, fitting neatly into feminine and maternal gender roles in concert with the father's gendered rowdiness. However, if the reader believes the father to be violent and abusive, the mother's frown becomes an expression of deep fear—and, perhaps, frustrating complacency.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
These are arguably the most ambiguous lines in the poem. Depending on the impression of the father that the reader has acquired over the previous two stanzas, it can be interpreted in a multitude of completely distinct ways. On the one hand, the battered knuckle can evoke sympathy for the father, hinting that he works with his hands or even that he himself is a victim rather than a perpetrator of physical harm. On the other hand, the sinister hints scattered elsewhere in the poem may lead readers to conclude that the father has hurt his hand in the process of doing violence to somebody else. Certainly, the choice of the word "battered," as well as the image of a hand clutching the child's wrist, evokes roughness and conflict, though readers may differ in opinion as to how that violence and conflict appear to specifically manifest among these characters.
