Chrystal Meeker -- Analysis of the Poem Momma

In the poem Momma by Chrystal Meeker, the narrator provides the reader a glimpse of the real meaning of motherhood. It is not about what moms can buy but about what they will give up for their children. In this poem, a woman looks back on her childhood and suddenly understands what her mother was willing to sacrifice for all of the children is the crux. This family, in the face of poverty, is majestically described by Meeker. In the poem "Momma" by Crystal Meeker, through literary devices like hyperbole, imagery, and simile, the meaning of motherhood is explored.

First of all the life of the family is explored. It is apparent that mother and daughter did not always see eye to eye in the hyperbole, "they clawed their womanhoods out of each other" (line 3). After a dinner in which the mother stood "vacant-eyed" and "hollow-cheeked" (line 9), the children are sent out to play in a parking lot. This again, describes the living condition of the family. There is no fenced-in yard but a vacant parking lot. The "cracking" counter in line 21 tells the reader that the house is in a state of disrepair.

However, it is in the actions of the mother and the realizations of her daughter that the true epiphany of the poem comes. While the children are out playing, the mother "began to lick the crumbs from my sister's plate" (line 19). Again, imagery is strong as the reader can see the mother sit down and "stick her finger at the sticky syrup" (line 23) To Kayla, her daughter, this sight is an oxymoron. Her mother, who typically is such a lady, is now licking plates. However, her mother "quietly" admits that she has not had anything to eat in five days. Meeker uses hyperbole in "my sister sucked the marrow from the bones of guilt" to describe how Kayla reacts once she knows this. The child is guilty in that she has cleaned her plate all that week, not understanding what her mother was going through.

This is the epiphany in the poem. Once Kayla realizes this, she carries this secret around until "it churned in her stomach like tapeworms ringed with razors" (line 38). This guilty secret is aptly described by the above simile. It is not until years later that Kayla tells this secret to her sister. It is a day that the sister (the narrator of the poem) has had a fight with their mother. When the narrator gets to her mom she stands "stoically" as is her character. The narrator then "hugged my Momma for all that I'd done wrong."

In this poem Chrystal Meeker does a phenomenal job of truly letting the reader into this family scene. We understand that they are far from rich but that there is true love and devotion from this mother toward her children. The reader also understands what the mother sacrifices, but more importantly her daughters come to understand what she has done for them. Honestly, the poem provides a rare glimpse of the parent-child relationship. How many of us truly have an understanding at all of what our parents gave up for us? In that way, the poem is reminiscent of a poem like "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden in which a boy learns that his father is also a man in his own right. However, Meeker does much more in the way of showing us the conditions this family lives in.