They were women then
My mama’s generation
Husky of voice—stout of
Step
With fists as well as
Hands
How they battered down
Doors
And ironed
Starched white
Shirts
How they led
Armies
Headragged generals
Across mined
Fields
(line removed because brainly doesn't understand it's not inappropriate)
Ditches
To discover books
Desks
A place for us
How they knew what
we
Must know
Without knowing a page
Of it
Themselves.
This poem focuses on black women's sacrifices to ensure their children's educations. It mainly celebrates the women of her mothers' era, who was a maid and wife to a failed sharecropper. The figurative language she uses highlights their strength and bravery they held and used, to try and make their kids' lives better so they could hold better opportunities.
