The time and circumstance are volatile in nature. The
change of fortune and the old age shouldn't deprive one of his or her deserved regard
and honor. Miss Rosie or Georgia Rose, as she was called when she was young, must have
been popular and admired in the prime of her life. But, in her old age, she’s turned
into a wretched and neglected old woman.
The three-worded
clause “I stand up,” repeated twice, encapsulates the main theme of the poem. It’s about
paying respect and homage to a lady who has shrunk into an insignificant and
ugly-looking old woman.
By repeating “I stand up,” the poet
honors an old woman who’s a representative of every old person who once really mattered,
and so was respected and cared for in his or her best
years.
With age, Miss Rosie has grown infirm and physically
unattractive. She is of no worth to the society and the people around her. To them,
she’s just a "wet brown bag,” and one who’s “wrapped up like
garbage.”
In her unique manner, the poet Lucille Clifton
condemns the neglect of old people, who ought to be looked after and cared for, by
standing up for them “through” their
"destruction."
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