Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Maxine Kumin’s "Knot" is a layered and poignant reflection on memory, loss, and the intricate bond between a mother and her child. This expansive poem weaves together personal history, displacement, and the haunting presence of both human and animal lives, creating a tapestry of interconnected experiences that resist easy resolution. Through vivid imagery, Kumin explores themes of transience, the weight of caregiving, and the complex emotional terrain of parenthood.

The poem opens with an acknowledgment of flux and impermanence: “Lately I am changing houses like sneakers and socks.” This casual remark belies a deeper dislocation, both physical and emotional. Kumin uses the image of ghosts relocating "as easily as livestock settling in another field" to suggest how memories and traumas persist, attaching themselves to every new environment. The metaphor of the snow angels sitting on the backs of Black Angus cows further emphasizes the inescapable presence of the past, blending the pastoral with the spectral.

As the poem shifts, Kumin recounts a walk in the Ardennes, where the scars of World War I and II are etched into the landscape. The “Adonises and sloe-eyed angels softened with verdigris” on war monuments serve as reminders of historical atrocities, contrasting with the personal and familial losses the speaker carries. This interweaving of the public and the private underscores the universality of grief, yet it also highlights the isolating nature of individual suffering.

The narrative becomes more intimate as Kumin reflects on her daughter’s childhood and the shared experiences that define their bond. The anecdote of a cat giving birth in a drawer filled with “lollipop pants” introduces a tender, domestic moment tinged with humor and affection. Yet, this lightness is counterbalanced by darker memories, such as the death of the child’s first dog, framed within a lie meant to shield her from pain: “he?s gone to live on a farm.” This lie becomes emblematic of the protective fictions parents construct, an act of love that also reveals the inevitability of loss.

Animals recur throughout the poem, serving as conduits for memory and symbols of the natural cycle of life and death. The “turtles from the five-and-dime” and their tragic fate reflect the fragility of life, while the old dog “getting up backwards” embodies the relentless passage of time. These creatures, both cherished and mourned, parallel the speaker’s own grappling with mortality and the weight of caregiving.

Kumin’s meditation on swimming as a means to “put down the cafard” offers a momentary reprieve from the heaviness of memory. The college pool, described as “mother-warm,” becomes a metaphorical womb, a space where the speaker can temporarily unburden herself of the physical and emotional freight she carries. This act of swimming—of moving through water—echoes the fluidity of memory, where moments resurface and submerge in an ongoing cycle.

The poem’s closing stanzas bring together its central themes of continuity and rupture. The snapshot on the parlor ledge captures a fleeting moment of familial unity, yet it is shadowed by the inexorable march of time. The image of the daughter’s eyes, which could be “bullet holes or beauty spots,” encapsulates the duality of love and loss, beauty and violence, that runs throughout the poem. Kumin’s plea for the joists of the house to endure, despite “their dry rot,” speaks to a desire for stability and preservation in the face of inevitable decay.

“Knot” is a profound exploration of the ties that bind us to each other and to the past. Through its rich imagery and shifting tones, the poem captures the complexities of love, memory, and resilience. Kumin’s ability to weave personal and historical narratives into a cohesive whole underscores her mastery as a poet, inviting readers to reflect on their own connections and the enduring threads that shape their lives.

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