Grandmother

Summary
Grandmother is a dedication of the poet who still loves her even after her death.  He believes that his grandmother is an icon to him who he could recognize whenever he saw her from a distance. He still remembers her carrying a plastic shopping bag. His grandmother used to wear a particular dress, a scarf on her head. She smelt of roots vegetables and earth.

The poet here is giving a tribute to his grandmother by recalling those adorable hands that caressed him with so much love and affection. He feels those damp hands still on his head warm. He still remembers how she spoke. Those words spoken by his grandmother are still giving him encouragement, guidance and support to become stronger and capable to move ahead in his life.

The poet wants to stress on how the elderly person in the family supports you by nurturing you in such a way that you always thank them for what you became today. The past generation should always be acknowledged for creating new lives and protecting them with their legacy.

What image do you find in this poem written by a member of the Sauk and fox (Mesquaki) Indian tribe of North America? To what senses do these image appeal?

There are various images seen in the poem written by a member of the Mesquaki tribe of North America. The poem expresses not only poet's love and respect towards his grandmother but uses her as an epitome for the native America.

The poet has used the sensuous images as effective tools in the poem that bring out a picture of a typical Mesquaki woman and her native culture. The grandmother portrayed in the poem appears to be all loving and affectionate which indirectly indicates that in spite of suppression, discrimination and contempt, the Mesquaki people existed strong and self. The poet has revealed the difficulties of women in the tribe by the lines 'Warm and damp with smell of roots." As they have to survive on natural plants and their products, it's no surprise that their hands smelt roots which they use as food. Moreover, rocks and night flies are also inseparable parts of tribal life. All these images sketched in the poem are very much appealing as they provide rural and rustic scene of American countryside where the tribes reside.

How does the speaker, feels towards his grandmother? In what words or lines, does he makes his feelings clear?

The poet has an affectionate and respectful feeling towards his grandmother. He describes his grandmother in such a way that she becomes the ultimate source of love, affection and inspiration to him. He expresses his warm and intimate feeling to her through the words like feeling her 'warm and damp hands' and 'her words would flow inside me like the light.' Here, the grandmother's words are compared with the light of sleeping night fire which brightens the darkness when it is recovered by removing the ashes. This is to say, her words lighten the darkness of his life and showed the right path to truth, love and goodness.