Mod A (poems)

Flashcards

Translucent Jade - Identity tied to ancestry - metaphor

“My grandfather made me a gift when I was born.”

Translucent Jade - Gradual forgetting of heritage in diaspora - euphamism

“Not that his was jostled aside, but it sort of slipped away.”

Translucent Jade - Negotiating identity between cultures - juxtaposition

“Sometimes I felt an imposter. Sometimes I thought it reflected hidden aspects I could own.”

Translucent Jade - Rediscovering pride in cultural roots - metaphor

“This translucent, slowly-yielding music Chinese name.”

Mother - Growing awareness of legacy - repetition

“I know now, as I did in my childhood wonder”

Mother - Femininity and quiet suffering - simile

“Her neck tilts like a sunflower too heavy to meet the sky.”

Mother - sacrifice - symbolism

“Grey hairs”

Mother - legacy - symbolism

“Certificate of improved literacy”

Mother - Sacrifice and poverty - juxtaposition

“Stitched floral pyjamas... for less than $5 an hour”

This is where it begins - Memory and inherited trauma - imagery

“Each story-word crackles under the ghost’s teeth”

This is where it begins - Ancestral influence and cultural transmission - metaphor

“They who are under our skin.”

This is where it begins - Physical and emotional inheritance - repetition

“Story, word, gesture all under my skin.”