"Who I Am" sharing

Find three images (or pairs of images) that seem important to you in this poem.  Discuss possible interpretations of each and what they might suggest about Boland's observations and purposes in It's A Woman's World. 

Attendance

Our way of life                                  

has hardly changed

since a wheel first

whetted a knife.

Well, maybe flame      ⁵

burns more greedily

and wheels are steadier

but we’re the same

who milestone

our lives                       ¹⁰                     

with oversights—

living by the lights

of the loaf left

by the cash register,

the washing powder    ¹⁵

paid for and wrapped,

the wash left wet.

Like most historic peoples

we are defined

by what we forget,      ²⁰

by what we never will be:

star-gazers,

fire-eaters.

It’s our alibi

for all time                   ²⁵

that as far as history goes

we were never

on the scene of the crime.

So when the king’s head gored its basket –        30
grim harvest -
we were gristing bread

or getting the recipe
for a good soup
to appetize                   35
our gossip.

And it’s still the same:
By night our windows
moth our children
to the flame                 40

of hearth not history.
And still no page
scores the low music
of our outrage.

But appearances          45
still reassure:
That woman there,
craned to the starry mystery

is merely getting a breath
of evening air,             50
while this one here -
her mouth

a burning plume -
she’s no fire-eater,
just my frosty neighbor 55
coming home.