Point of View

The poem “Bonfire Opera” is told from the first-person perspective of a speaker recalling a vivid memory from her youth. Specifically, she remembers how a woman in her community would take off her clothes and sing opera at their nighttime bonfire gatherings by the sea. In the first part of the poem, the speaker guides us through her memories, evoking them in a concrete way through sensory details. The speaker goes on to layer her present-day understanding of these memories. Despite the maturity and wisdom that age can bring, the speaker knew even back then that something deeper was at work than just a beautiful performance. The ecstasy of the woman’s song mingled with her desire to break free from the limits of her body. The speaker calls this core truth “the song inside the song” (25).

Since the speaker’s understanding did not actually...