Thoughts on "On My Mind" from the book Tocqueville

     Throughout the book, Tocqueville, there are a lot of interesting poems to read. Some are cryptic and some are easier to understand, just like other poems from other authors. Many poems are also a combination of this. Some parts you might understand, whereas the rest is a little more difficult to read. I thought one particular poem from this book was like this. It's called "On My Mind."

     This poem gives me two ideas on what it is about. As I read it several times, it seems like he is talking about someone he knows. Someone who had a whole different life than what he remembers long ago. For some reason, I had an idea that he was referring to his mother. However, at the end of the poem he says, "I think her name was Georgia." After I read that, I felt like it couldn't be his mother anymore. Then to think of it, maybe the narrator in the poem is stating the fact that she is so different now, that he no longer knows who she is. Another reason why it could be the mother he is talking about, is because overall the whole poem talks about a women that he loves, but it doesn't seem like an intimate kind of love. Some of the lines can give the idea that his mother was once around to care for him, but since she is consumed by other things, she is not there for him now. He still loves her and wants to care for her, because he might be the only family member she has.

     Another idea of what could be the meaning of this poem is that the narrator may be talking about women nowadays in America's society. Overall, the poem kind of creates a stereotypical image of a woman who would maybe considered "White Trash." I actually had the image of the mother from the movie Matilda, pop into my head while I read the poem. It seems like the language is saying that long ago she, or women, were not like this. As if maybe because some of the habits that we have in society have made a big impact on what we do or look like. For example, the lady in the story smokes a carton a day. This habit is unhealthy and could of changed the woman in a small way. She is so consumed into smoking, or other habits, that she could lose a part of who she was before all of this. Things like this can change people, making seem like they are not who they used to be anymore. Like how a drug addict can change their personality by using harsh drugs and will eventually lose everything good around them. Maybe with some of the choices we made as a society has changed on what we think on certain subjects, making us different to others.
     Overall, this poem is really interesting. It is a combination of a cryptic message and an easy language we can understand. I think to find the real meaning of this poem, besides asking the author himself, is to read piece by piece and try to figure out what each piece means. Poems are puzzles, with enough effort, you are able to make out which pieces or ideas will click and which ones don't. I would be really interested to see if I was right or somewhat right with the background or meaning of this poem.