Poppies

Question 1

War’s loss is emphasised as personal

Answer 1

“Three days before Armistice Sunday / and poppies had already been placed / on individual war graves” (1-3)

Question 2

The speaker may feel shut out of her son’s life

Answer 2

“Before you left, / I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals, / spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade / of yellow bias binding around your blazer” (3-6)

Question 3

The speaker cares for her son before he leaves

Answer 3

“Sellotape bandaged around my hand, / I rounded up as many white car hairs / as I could, smoothed down your shirt’s / upturned collar” (7-10)

Question 4

The mother is strong and remembers their childhood memories with their son

Answer 4

“steeled the softening / of my face. I wanted to graze my nose / across the tip of your nose, play at / being Eskimos like we did when / you were little.” (10-14)

Question 5

The mother resists their loving instincts to touch their son and seemingly can’t express what they want to in words

Answer 5

“I resisted the impulse / to run my fingers through the gelled / blackthorns of your hair. All my words / flattened, rolled, turned into felt, slowly melting” (14-18)

Question 6

The mother is brave in the final moments before her son leaves

Answer 6

“I was brave, as I walked / with you, to the front door, threw / it open, the world overflowing / like a treasure chest.” (18-21)

Question 7

After the speaker’s son leaves, the speaker, likely symbolically, releases a bird from its cage

Answer 7

“A split second / and you were away, intoxicated. / After you’d gone I went into your bedroom, / released a song bird from its cage.” (21-24)

Question 8

The mother is left anxious after her son leaves

Answer 8

“Later a single dove flew from the pear tree, / and this is where it has led me, / skirting the church yard walls, my stomach busy / making tucks, darts, pleats, hat-less, without / a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves” (25-29)

Question 9

The speaker goes to a war memorial, reminding the reader of the risk her son faces

Answer 9

“On reaching the top of the hill I traced / the inscriptions on the war memorial, / leaned against it like a wishbone.” (30-32)

Question 10

The speaker is desperate to have some sense of connection with her son after he leaves

Answer 10

“The dove pulled freely against the sky, / an ornamental stitch. I listened, hoping to hear / your playground voice catching on the wind.” (33-35)