https://padlet.com/adam_mitchell45/68yz5u78kuah To an Old Black Woman, Homeless and Indistinct en-us 2017-03-24 15:32:00 UTC 2025-10-21 18:20:21 UTC hello@padlet.com adam_mitchell45 https://padlet.com/adam_mitchell45/68yz5u78kuah/wish/162450401 Your every day is a pilgrimage.
A blue hubbub.
Your days are collected bacchanals of fear and self-troubling,

And your nights! Your nights.
When you put you down in an alley or cardboard or viaduct,
your lovers are rats, finding your secret places.

This part summarizes the day to day sad life of the lady. ]]> 2017-03-24 15:34:06 UTC https://padlet.com/adam_mitchell45/68yz5u78kuah/wish/162450401 adam_mitchell45 https://padlet.com/adam_mitchell45/68yz5u78kuah/wish/162453073 When you rise in another morning,
you hit the street, your incessant enemy.

See? Here you are, in the so-busy world.
You walk. You walk.
You pass The People.
No. The People pass you.

Here's a Rich Girl marching briskly to her charms.
She is suede and scarf and belting and perfume.
She sees you not, she sees you very well.
At five in the afternoon Miss Rich Girl will go Home
to brooms and vacuum cleaner and carpeting,
two cats, two marble-top tables, two telephones,
Shiny green peppers, flowers in impudent vases,
visitors.
Before all that there's luncheon to be known.
Lasagna, lobster salad, sandwiches.
All day there's coffee to be loved.
There are luxuries
of minor dissatisfaction, luxuries of Plan.

We know of the old woman's life so this part compares it to the rich girls which doesn't seem so extravagant but it seems like cloud nine to the old woman. Also  the quote "She sees you not, she sees you very well," can mean she ignores her when she see her clearly.]]> 2017-03-24 15:42:24 UTC https://padlet.com/adam_mitchell45/68yz5u78kuah/wish/162453073 adam_mitchell45 https://padlet.com/adam_mitchell45/68yz5u78kuah/wish/162458487 That's her story.

You're going to vanish, not necessarily nicely, fairly soon.
Although essentially dignity itself a death
is not necessarily tidy, modest, or discreet.
When they find you
your legs may not be tidy nor aligned.
Your mouth may be all crooked or destroyed.

Black old woman, homeless, indistinct—
Your last and least adventure is Review.
Folks used to celebrate your birthday!
Folks used to say "She's such a pretty little thing!"
Folks used to say "She draws such handsome horses, cows, and houses."
Folks used to say that child is going far."

The poem re turns to the lady, she reflects first on her beak future, dying anonymously. she then reflects on her happy past when people noticed and believed in her, implying that the reader should reread the poem to compare it to her present, the rich girls life, and the old woman's future ]]> 2017-03-24 16:00:49 UTC https://padlet.com/adam_mitchell45/68yz5u78kuah/wish/162458487