autumn convalescence analysis

When I first opened this poem, I had no idea what convalescence meant.

 I thought it meant “to bring something together” but it’s instead the “time spent recovering from an illness or medical treatment.” Now I have an idea of what this poem might be about, the speaker is recovering from something in autumn. 

The first stanza throws me off again. I don’t understand what “reversal” means in this context, and in what case would an egg smell like honey? The poem has created the painting of a peaceful morning breakfast, in which the speaker is trying to organize their thoughts regarding a past pain. 

The second line in this stanza does make sense to me because an egg does tend to ooze. This egg is not cooked yet. I’m starting to wonder if this is a metaphor for an unplanned baby. 

I’m not sure why “off broken shell” is separated from the rest of its sentence. The reference to a surveillance helicopter makes me think that the speaker is recovering from something that is still hovering over them. They are unable to escape their malady, which would make sense if the speaker were worrying over an unplanned child. 

The next stanza is more clear, I think it’s the speaker trying to self-soothe. The dash between “palm” and “New nerve” might be a way for the poet to clarify what the narrator is quieting. The “new” nerve continues to make me wonder whether the speaker is pregnant. This idea would follow through with the rest of the poem, with an egg referring to an unborn child. The “habitual pulses” in the next stanza could refer to the heartbeat of either the mother or the child. 

There is a shift in the poem when my presumed morning image shifts into the afternoon. The speaker begins to describe the afternoon as “achy” and that the trees smell like they’re “dying.” The author’s choice of bitter and apprehensive diction follows 

The author’s description of “blood on the leaves and fingers” and “sticky with crimson sap” makes me wonder if she is remembering a violent encounter that she is trying to heal from. Though, I’m still not sure what the mini-shift in the stanza means. Between the sour diction, the speaker says “the light like freedom,” which makes me think that despite the violence from her former lover or an abuser, she has the freedom of loving her new baby freely.

After looking up the author, Victoria Stitt, on LinkedIn, I learned that she is an English teacher and an advocate for social justice. I started wondering whether this poem could have been published around the time Roe v. Wade was overturned, which could make this poem an examination of the anxiety that surrounded women regarding unplanned pregnancy.

That idea was kind of shot down when I realized the poem was published in 2021, and Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. 

Another one of my theories about this poem was that it could have been about remembering the violent death of a loved one. I noticed that Victoria Stitt had previously written poems about black violence, and I began to shift my frame of thinking with this poem. The visceral description of the egg could instead be the speaker projecting the violent scene that they witnessed. The “broken shell” continues the violent imagery, where the second sentence of the poem could almost be imagined as the violent image of the aftermath of someone shot in the head. The speaker’s description of life “wailing like a surveillance helicopter” could instead reflect the constant fear and anxiety of violence that black people live with. 

The “new nerve” that the speaker soothes could be the new realization that the headlines on the news are truly real, that this violence could happen to anyone. The line “i begin to remember you” enforces my idea that this is about a loved one lost to violence. The speaker creates a sour picture following their memory of “you.” The speaker describes the afternoon as an “achy yellow.” The “honey” smell that the setting started with turns into the smell of dying trees.  The tone shifts from one of apprehension and anxiety into one of uncomfortable memory.

The final stanza is what confirms my theory the poet is describing a speaker remembering the trauma of witnessing past violence. The poet describes “blood on the leaves and fingers,” which brings me to remember the violent injustices that black people have faced outside of their homes.  

There are still some things that I’m unsure about in the poem, like the significance of “kelly drive” and what the interlude of “light like freedom” means for the poem’s overall meaning. 

 

I feel comfortable with both of my theories, but I think the one regarding violence may be closer to the poet’s intention because of Victoria Stitt’s background writing about the violence and fear that black people face. 

———————–ANNOTATIONS———————–

Theory 1 annotations:

Theory 2 annotations:

additional notes:

• Each stanza has two lines 
• There’s a dash between palm and trying → which shows that the following phrase is an explanation?