The Words Under the Words

The grandmother of Nye’s poem experiences many instances of loss. Though the speaker of the poem does not state it directly, readers who know about Nye’s background will remember her grandmother lived through the shifting, violent disputes that gave Israel control over Palestine. She is a woman who has been displaced and who “lost” (Line 10) her son when he moved to America. The speaker also suggests the grandmother is losing her sight. The first line “My grandmother’s hands recognize grapes” (Line 1) suggests she is seeing the grapes through her hands because her eyesight is going or has already gone.

As the speaker delineates a picture of her grandmother, she lets the reader know she has lost her husband by saying “farewell to the husband’s coat / the ones she has loved and nourished” (Lines 22-23). She also notes that “nothing can surprise her” (Line 17), which suggests the grandmother has lived through losses too numerous to name. Still the grandmother remains resilient and an active member of her community. She tells others to bring her “the shotgun wound and the crippled baby” (Line 18). In the opening stanza the reader describes her grandmother helping to care for her when she fell sick with a fever.