Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Alice Fulton's "Aunt Madelyn at the White Sale" weaves a tapestry of domestic life, memory, and existential reflection. The poem explores the ordinary act of shopping for linens while delving into deeper themes of love, fear, mortality, and the complex relationships that shape one's life.

The poem opens in the "kingdom of irregulars," a space where uniqueness and imperfections are celebrated. This setting serves as a metaphor for the speaker’s life, where she seeks "furiously useful towels," symbolizing a desire for order and utility amidst chaos. The reference to "Closets simmering with / terry, linen, beach or tea" highlights an obsessive compulsion to prepare and stockpile, suggesting a need for security and control.

Fulton examines the notion of hoarding as it relates to emotions rather than necessity. The speaker's mother is depicted as a stockpiler of soap, neatly wrapped like gifts, contrasting the typical contents of a step-on can. This image of "neat and brightly wrapped" soap bars provides a semblance of order and cleanliness, an attempt to ward off the messiness of life. The mother's parting words, "Be back by twelve / and don't come home / if you get killed," reflect a dark humor and a fatalistic view of life’s unpredictability.

The speaker's survival, despite life's challenges, is attributed to "life's pigheadedness" and "a hardwon / inability to unexist," portraying death as something that resists easy escape. The traumatic experience of a "cerebral pinch" underscores the fragility of existence and the randomness of survival. The sanitized light to which she returns represents a sterile, controlled environment, a stark contrast to the chaos from which she narrowly escaped.

Towels, absorbing their weight in chaos, become a metaphor for coping mechanisms that bring a semblance of serenity. The vivid imagery of orchids, once transported with care but ultimately lost to "heat or dark," parallels the speaker's own mental and emotional struggles. The confusion between a dendrobium and medication reflects the blurred lines between memory and present reality, emphasizing the disorientation that accompanies aging and illness.

The poem shifts to reflect on familial relationships, particularly the speaker's sisters. The act of ringing the wrong bell after years of visiting her sister symbolizes the disconnection and deterioration of relationships over time. The sister who "manages neither / smiles nor meaning" contrasts sharply with the more functional sibling, highlighting the varying ways individuals cope with life’s challenges.

Fulton delves into the speaker’s feelings of rage and disappointment, articulated through "blood astringent as witch hazel." The pretense of not seeing her own infirmities, mirrored by others’ pretense, underscores the isolation and denial experienced in dealing with aging and illness. The reference to her friend Miriam, lost in a deadly fire, serves as a stark reminder of mortality and the randomness of death.

The imagery of snowflakes floating sideways, seemingly detached from the ground, symbolizes the speaker's struggle to stay grounded amidst life's uncertainties. The insistence that "they are falling, they do touch earth, and they / never rise at all" reflects a desire to affirm reality and maintain a connection to the tangible world, despite the illusion of detachment.

"Aunt Madelyn at the White Sale" masterfully intertwines mundane and profound elements, exploring how everyday actions and objects serve as anchors in the face of life's inherent unpredictability and chaos. Through vivid imagery and introspective narrative, Alice Fulton captures the complexities of human experience, emphasizing the resilience and adaptability required to navigate the intertwining realms of love, fear, memory, and mortality.

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