The Field

The speaker describes walking in the field by her house with her friend Dion. This field appears to be undeveloped by humans, allowing wild animals to go about their lives and deaths. Eucalyptus trees line the field, ticks attach to Dion's dog, and the speaker and Dion find a dismembered deer leg and the feathery remains of a hen. This natural environment evokes both beauty and danger, prompting the speaker to meditate on mortality and consider kinship in the form of sisterhood. The lines "We walk farther up the slope, over thistles and clumps / of dandelion, lean down to the stippled earth, / and revel in its decedent decay" particularly express the way the speaker celebrates life and the inevitable deterioration of all things (22-24).

Night

Though most of the poem takes place during the day, the speaker also has her most significant realization at night. After identifying...