Snake Skins

In "Summer," snake skins represent the past, and the need to shed one's history in order to move forward. The speaker finds snake skins at her front door two days in a row, and is annoyed that the snakes are repeatedly sending her a message that she already knows. She does not disclose what this message is, but the fact that it is conveyed by snake skins -- the detritus of the snakes' past lives -- implies that it is a call for reflection and evolution.

Lena Horne

In "Let Me Live in a House by the Side of the Road and be a Friend to Man," Lena Horne is a symbol of Black femininity, and the power and divinity that accompany it. Lena Horne played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz, and Lewis imagines her as a goddess. She is part of the...