This poem is about Aunt Jennifer’s constrained life and eventual death ... the image — and therefore the reality — of her freedom. She accomplishes this through patience and discipline.

My guest this week on Poetry from Daily Life is Heidi Mordhorst ... So when I say, “You are the Boss of Your Poem,” the frisson of freedom that ripples through the group is palpable.

Analysis: The mother’s advice to her son, “Life for me ain’t ... reflects Hughes’s longing for freedom and equality in a ...