My Father's Love Letters

Out of fear that his mother might read the letter, concede, and come home, the speaker considers sending her a reminder that “Mary Lou / Williams’ ‘Polka Dots & Moonbeams’ / Never made the swelling go down” (Lines 9-11). The speaker’s consideration suggests that his mother once used music to relax and to find temporary relief from her worries and pains. Just as blues music originated in suffering and came about as a way of making something beautiful out of one’s burdens, the speaker of the poem implies that the mother sought to use Mary Lou Williams’ recordings as solace from the pain inflicted by her violent husband. The symbol of the song represents the speaker’s link to his mother and his understanding of her need to escape into a beautiful distraction.

The speaker describes himself sitting with his father in the “toolshed” (Line 25), surrounded by the tools of the speaker’s father’s trade. The father’s tools symbolize his competence as a mill worker. For instance,

His carpenter’s apron always bulged

With old nails, a claw hammer

Looped at his side & extensions cords

Coiled around his feet (Lines 12-15).

In addition, the “toolshed” (Line 25) contains “voltage meters & pipe threaders” (Line 20) and “a five-pound wedge” (Line 22).