Poetry Blog #14

A Work of Artifice

By: Marge Piercy

This poem starts out with "The bonsai tree in the attractive pot could have grown eighty feet tall on the side of the mountain till split by lightening." As I started to read this poem, I notice how I get a visual picture in my head of a pretty little bonsai tree in my head growing in a lovely pot outside that is suddenly hit by lightening. As you continue to read on you read about how the gardener carefully prunes the tree and tells the little tree that "It is your nature to be small and cozy, domestic and weak." Once I reached this part in the poem I realized the little bonsai tree represented women and how they are always "pruned" and kept from growing to their full potential.

The theme of this poem is that women can be very powerful and successful, but they are kept from reaching their full potential because men believe women are meant to be domestic, small and weak. Overall this poem had a powerful impact on me because I am glad that in today's society there is less prejudice against women because I want to go to college and make something of myself and I couldn’t do that if I was continuously pruned and only praised for my looks.