"Picture Bride"

     The questions posed in this poem provide a great deal of imagery to it. The author, Cathy Song, explores the idea of immigration and "picture brides" through a series of unanswered questions.
She asks about the "wings of moths migrating out of the cane stalks" (32-33). This could be a parallel to her grandmother. She is immigrating to an unknown land. Song uses the image of a moth to symbolize the grandmother traveling to another land. The narrator also asks simple things to gain insight into her ancestor's life. She questions, "What things did my grandmother / take with her?" (22-23). This is something people today may not even think of. It seems so casual, but what the narrator's grandmother took with her would be quite informative. Was she close to her family? Did she have a lot of friends? All these things could be understood by a suitcase.
     The narrator also compares her grandmother's journey to her own life. She opens the piece by saying, "She was a year younger / than I" (1-2). By comparing where she is at twenty-three to where her grandmother was, she is able to see how different their lives are. This, perhaps, also determines what questions she poses. Today, it is hard to image leaving home forever to go marry a stranger that is miles away.
     I enjoyed the inquisitive nature of the poem. I think that many people often look to literature or the past for answers when there may be none. We may never know somethings, and that is okay. Maybe the answers are best left to the imagination.