Time and memory lend the poem “Mothers” a way to travel from adulthood to childhood and back again, without asking the reader to suspend their own beliefs in order to coherently follow along. The poem begins, “the last time i was home” (Line 1), which is unspecific. However, by the end of the first stanza the reader understands that the speaker and the mother she is visiting are both adults, able to enjoy a “comforting silence” (Line 5) in one another’s company.

The second stanza delves deeper into memory to “remember the first time” (Line 7) the speaker really sees her mother. It is nighttime. Again, details are scarce, but the reader can surmise that the speaker is traveling back to early childhood, as maybe she “had wet / the bed” (Lines 15-16)—an action typically confined to very young children.

The mother teaches her child “a poem” (Line 32) from memory. The reader travels forward in time, back to adulthood and to the speaker’s own motherhood, wherein the speaker’s child recites the poem from memory to his grandmother. Through this snippet of art, the three generations are connected. The last leap forward gives the impression that time is fleeting. The speaker reminds the reader that people have a responsibility to recognize and acknowledge the joys of life as well as its burdens.