Why So Slow

While reading the book of poetry 180 more the poem “Slow Children at play” stood out and sparked my curiosity. The author of this poem could be a man or a woman.  The poem has a great deal of mystery because the author leaves you wanting to know more. The end of the poem states “. . . These are my children, thinking, where is their dinner? Where has their father gone?” My thoughts about this poem were that it was about children and their home life. Or was the poem about a bad mother? Did something happen to the father?  Did this mother lose her husband, and now cannot afford to feed her children. This was interesting that the narrator leaves it up to the reader to have several perspectives about the poem.  Is this poem about the children or is the poem about a mother who is realizing she has neglected her children and husband? This poem stuck out to me the most because it left you with the unknown, we do not know why the father is missing, and we do not know why the children are slow.

In addition, the first stanza in the poem states, “All the quick children have gone inside. . .” This depicts that the quick children go inside to eat dinner and spend time with their family. I think maybe the slow children do not have a good home. Or maybe the slow children have an abusive mother, who does not cook for her children. While reading this poem over and over I still have the same thought that the slow children come from a dysfunctional upbringing. The quick children have a good home with a caring mother; on the other hand the slow children do not. The quick kids are in a hurry to go inside their homes, and the slow children take their time. Maybe the slow children do not want to go home? Maybe their home is a nightmare full of neglect and mistreatment. While reading the poem I am puzzled as to why the narrator leaves you asking what happened to the father.  Did this mother lose her husband, and now she cannot afford to feed children? In the poem the poet calls the mother of the slow children slow as well. Maybe something is wrong with the mother? In the poem it states, “And their slow mothers flickering. . .”       Overall, this poem leaves the reading wondering why the poet left out so much information. This poem is different because the narrator leaves out what happened to the father? Also what is wrong with the children’s mother?  Why are the slow children not like the quick children? Do the quick children have a loving home with a mother and a father? The poem has several aspects you can look at, maybe this is a mother just now realizing she has not been the best mother to her children, or maybe she is not financial stable to take care of her kids? It leaves the reader with their own idea of why the slow children are slow and, the quick children are quick.