Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Marge Piercy's poem "Unbuttoning" is a poignant exploration of memory and legacy through the seemingly mundane objects of buttons. Using vivid imagery and rich metaphors, Piercy transforms these everyday items into powerful symbols of personal and familial history, evoking deep emotions and reflections on the passage of time.

The poem begins with a simple scene: "The buttons lie jumbled in a tin / that once held good lapsang souchong / tea from China." This opening line immediately sets a tone of nostalgia and establishes the buttons as vessels of memory, contained in a tin that itself holds history. The description of the tea as "smoky as the smell / from a woodstove in the country" evokes a sense of warmth and comfort, linking the sensory experience of the tea to the act of sorting through the buttons.

As Piercy turns the buttons over, they produce a sound "like strange money being counted / toward a purchase as I point / dumbly in a foreign bazaar." This metaphor of foreign currency suggests a sense of navigating through unfamiliar or forgotten memories, each button representing a piece of the past that needs to be interpreted and understood.

The act of sorting the buttons with her fingers is compared to handling "worry beads," highlighting the tactile and meditative nature of this process. The search for "something small / and red to fill the missing / slot on a blouse placket" adds a practical aspect to the task, yet it is clear that this practical search is intertwined with deeper emotional significance.

The poem reveals that these buttons are a legacy from the speaker's mother: "I carried them from my mother’s / sewing table, a wise legacy / not only practical but better / able than fading snapshots / to conjure buried seasons." Here, the buttons are portrayed as more potent than photographs in their ability to evoke past experiences and emotions. Each button holds a story, a piece of the speaker's and her mother's life.

Specific buttons trigger vivid memories: "Button stamped with an anchor / means my grade-school peacoat. / Button in the form of a white / daisy from a sky blue dress / she wore, splashed with that flower." These descriptions connect the physical objects to concrete memories, bringing the past into the present with tangible detail. The image of the mother as "a rosy dahlia / bent over me petaled with curls" is particularly evocative, blending floral and familial imagery to create a warm, nurturing picture.

The poem also touches on darker memories, such as a "mauve nub’s from a dress / once drenched in her blood." This line introduces a stark contrast to the previous, more innocent memories, indicating the full spectrum of life experiences encapsulated in the buttons. The mother’s words from 1941 about the war and coral being "built / of bodies of the dead piled up" further deepen the poem’s exploration of memory and history, tying personal and global events together.

Piercy concludes by reflecting on the dual nature of buttons as "useful little monuments" that both fasten and open, symbolizing the dual function of memory to both hold things together and reveal hidden depths. The final image of buttons "rattling in my hand, they’re shells / left by vanished flesh" poignantly encapsulates the theme of mortality and the enduring presence of those who have passed away.

"Unbuttoning" is a rich, multi-layered poem that uses the metaphor of buttons to delve into themes of memory, legacy, and the passage of time. Through her evocative language and imagery, Marge Piercy captures the profound emotional resonance that seemingly mundane objects can hold, transforming them into powerful symbols of personal and familial history.

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