Ok, this is definitely a confusing poem for me, at least in the sense that I can't fully grasp a significant hidden meaning behind the poem.
With that being stated, at the beginning of this poem Sharon Olds does a fabulous job of putting a specific scene in mind, the hot summer day at the local pool, probably for a child's birthday party, and the only girl (as obviously stated in the title). What I derive from the lines, is that this young girl, the speaker's daughter, is a very intelligent young lady. Sharon Olds constantly drops subtle (or not so subtle) hints about this child being the math wiz, "her math scores unfolding in the air", "Indivisible as a prime number," and "her ponytail will hang its pencil lead down her back." This young lady seems to be spending the entire party sidetracked on variables and calculations. She does enjoy herself, but not until the very end of the poem does this young lady realize the most significant proportion is that she is the ONLY girl and a boys' party.
Why is this important? Why did Sharon Olds right about a young lady at a boys' party, of all places a boys party? My best guess at these answers is this, she is becoming aware that there aren't just numbers and calculations, that there are boys, young men, all around her. Its a poem about the realization of young ladies that young men are attracted or aware of them. The child within the poem sees the "curves of their sexes, one each." It is a scary time but a time that is expected.
Again my disclaimer: So sorry if this is not the right interpretation of the poem; as ususal I did the best that I could.
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1 comment:
It’s a pretty good interpretation for feeling like you didn’t grasp the hidden meaning. I think the young girl was experiencing a sexual awakening. The girl is coming from adolescence to adulthood. The young girl was probably using her extraordinary math skills to calculate all the boys there. However, I find it pretty creepy that mother is witnessing her daughter through this experience. But, what do I know? I wouldn’t know what the mother feels until I am a mother myself.
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