Genetics

‘My father’s in my fingers, but my mother’s in my palms.’

Syntactic parallels, structure = equally brought together. Caesura shows parents are seperated but easily brought together, balance between them.

‘They may have been repelled to separate lands,
to separate hemispheres, may sleep with other lovers,’

• ‘Repelled’ & ‘Seperated’ = undefinable seperation

• ‘Seperate’ is repeated which reinforces

• ‘Lands’ > ‘hemispheres’ escalates

• ‘Other lovers’ = underlying beauty of new relationships.

‘With nothing left of their togetherness but friends
who quarry for their image by a river,’

• Stresses on ‘w’, ‘n’, ‘l’, reinforce seperation

• Metaphor of river = distorted and blurred, hard to find parents togetherness.

‘I shape a chapel where a steeple stands.’

Childhood game but also a metaphor, her body evokes marriage.

‘demure before a priest reciting psalms.
My body is their marriage register.
I re-enact their wedding with my hands.’

• ‘Demure’ = loving, how daughter imagines their wedding

• ‘Psalms’, cycles togetherness with previous ‘palms’

• Her body = an extended metaphor, she is proof they came together

• Sibilance ‘Preist reciting psalms’, conveys unity

‘So take me with you, take up the skin’s demands’

Crescendo of optimism of future, imperitive

‘I’ll bequeath my fingers, if you bequeath your palms.’

• Archaic, like marriage vow but personal to speaker. Idea of reenacting marriage but changing parts.

‘We know our parents make us by our hands.’

• ‘You’ > ‘Our’, it is a universal message

• Repetition mirrors vows

• Sense of cohesion, contrasts with previous lines

Form:

A villanelle with circular form coming back in final couplet to where it began. Reflects the imagery of marriage. May also mimic the double DNA helicase.