Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Rooming Houses Are Old Women," penned by Audre Lorde in 1968, is a poignant poem that delves into the themes of aging, isolation, and societal neglect. Lorde portrays rooming houses not merely as architectural structures but as living entities, imbued with the personalities and the longings of old women. These women become metaphors for the rooming houses themselves-places that have been marginalized and forgotten, yet hold layers of history and experience within their walls.

The opening lines, "Rooming houses are old women / rocking dark windows into their whens," immediately draw attention to the parallel between the two subjects. The old women are metaphorically "rocking" the dark windows-perhaps in a chair, perhaps in their memories-as they contemplate the "whens" of their pasts. This is not just a glance back at happier times but a meditation on choices, opportunities, and circumstances that have led them to the present moment.

The word "rocking" recurs throughout the poem as an activity that fills time and space but doesn't really get anywhere. The phrase "waiting incomplete circles___ / rocking" captures the essence of their existence: a life of continuous yet stilted motion, symbolized by the incomplete circles they form while rocking back and forth. It's an unending cycle that mirrors the drudgery and routine of their lives, symbolized by the "rent office to stoop to / community bathrooms to gas-rings to / under-bed boxes of once useful garbage."

The juxtaposition between the old women and the "young men next door / with their loud fragrant parties / and fishy rings left in the bathtub" serves to underline their irrelevance and invisibility in a world that has moved on. Their lives no longer intersect with vibrancy or even simple domestic disputes. Instead, they exist in their own secluded realms, detached from the cycle of life happening around them.

The poem also tackles the broader issue of societal neglect. The old women receive a "twice-a-month check," likely a government-issued stipend that is barely enough for sustenance. This is not just an economic condition but a systemic form of disregard that pushes them toward "Welfare and insult / from the slow shuffle / from dayswork to shopping bags / heavy with leftovers." They are reduced to a schedule of bare survival.

However, despite the grim circumstances, there's a glimmer of existential questioning towards the end. The women are "searching / through darkening windows / the end or beginning of agony." This leaves us to ponder whether they are simply marking time or still in search of something-whether an "end" to their suffering or perhaps a "beginning" of something new, even at this late stage in life.

Finally, Lorde leaves us with an image of these women as "an entrance to somewhere / unknown desired / but not new." They may be at the threshold of understanding, acceptance, or even a different form of existence. Though they may no longer expect something "new," they hold onto a faint desire for something "unknown."

Through evocative language and imagery, Audre Lorde paints a vivid yet somber portrait of aging and societal neglect, thereby urging us to question and contemplate the spaces and lives we often overlook. This poem serves as a stark reminder that these "old women" and the rooming houses they inhabit are both waiting and being, stuck in cycles yet filled with stories and dreams yet to be explored.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...