To a Daughter Leaving Home- Linda Pastan

When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter,
the hair flapping
behind you like a
handkerchief waving
goodbye.

This poem is really great because it can be interpreted many different ways and applied to different situations. It is short and to the point, but very meaningful. When I first read it, I thought about going to collge and how my mom probably feels. The only thing is that I think that the the way this poem is written is kind of weird. It is one big satnza and one or two big sentences chopped up into two to four word lines. It has a free verse, but I did notice a few literary devices, like imagery and how the whole poem is a metaphor. Some of my favorite lines, which are at the end of the poem actually contain imagery and a similie: pumping, pumping/for your life, screaming/ with laughter,/ the hair flapping/ behind you like a/ handkerchief waving/ goodbye. I love the imagery that I get from these lines and similie.

The meaning of this poem was very easily found and from the moment I finished I knew it wasn't just about mom watching her daughter learn to ride a bicycle. I knew that t was about the feeling that a mother gets when her daughter leaves and her concern of he daughter falling or not making it. There weren't any lines that left me confused and it all pretty much made sense, probably because it was so short and concise. I would recommend this poem to mothers or daughters because they are the only ones that would connect with the poem.