"Driving Glove" by Claudia Emerson

     Born in 1957, this renowned American poet has has left her print on 20th century literature. Claudia Emerson-born in Virginia- was named Virginia's poet Laureate and received numerous other awards. She also was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2008.

Driving Glove
by Claudia Emerson I was unloading groceries from the trunk of what had been her car, when the glove floated up from underneath the shifting junk- a crippled umbrella, the jack, ragged maps. I knew it was not one of yours, this more delicate, soft, made from hide of a kid or lamb.It still remembered her hand, the creases where her fingers

had bent to hold the wheel, the turn
of her palm, smaller than mine. There was
nothing else to do but return it -
let it drift, sink, slow as a leaf through water
to rest on the bottom where I have not
forgotten it remains - persistent in its loss.

     Although the situation of this poem is slightly telling of the theme, the structure and diction are what truly frame the tone and shift. The first two lines of the first stanza characterize the narrator as some type of parental unit or as a person of that age/ level of responsibility. The rest of this stanza plays with diction. Lines 3 and four reveal that the floating glove holds a negative connotation of sorts while the rest of the stanza speaks nostalgia. The author uses adjectives like "delicate" and "soft" to reveal the calmness of her mourning while the lines before that include more candid words that reveal the true feelings on the matter. Someone the narrator loved DEARLY has passed away. I'm assuming a daughter. At the end of the first stanza the author gets lost in her mournfully nostalgic tone until she remembers the tragedy. She breaks between the first and second stanza not only to recover from the brutal hit of reality but also to change the shift to bitterly bereaved. The author reveals that she is not yet ready to confront this emotion however, and returns the glove as a pathetic attempt to erase the tragedy that has struck.