From quilting (1991), "quilting" Summary

This poem compares the magic of a mother teaching her daughter to quilt to the magic that alchemists were seeking ages ago. In the first stanza, the mother and the daughter sit together in an "unknown" world. The mother is shown to be otherworldly because she has yellow eyes. In the second stanza, the alchemists, somewhere else, make their experiments that eventually become science, then stone.

The third verse shows the woman threading her needle, smiling at her daughter, and teaching her how the quilts will keep them warm. The final verse asks some questions about how the poem will end. Will the quilting continue for generations? Will the alchemists continue on with their endless work? Will the two worlds continue to leave other, having so little in common?

From quilting (1991), "quilting" Analysis

This poem...