The Child

The character of the child appears as a speaker and subject in many of the poems in the collection, although they are not always the same person in each poem. Often the child is a girl, and usually her parents have split up, or she has lost her father in some way. She is fascinated by her mother, as well as the other women that she meets, especially those she is related to. She is on the brink of womanhood, and so is interested in the power of beauty and sexuality, as well as the strength of women. This fascination can be seen in "Beauty" and "Things We Had Lost in the Summer."

The Mother

Mothers appear in many poems in the book, and most of them have lost the father of their child. Sometimes the father has died, but more often he has left her, or...