I think I'm crosseyed. Perhaps I have carpal tunnel now.

Poem 246 Page 305

First and foremost I must say that this poem literally made me "LOL." I could envision my own grandmother in her out of style clothing that is intentionally mismatched to keep the busybodies at church gawking. The capturing of lost youth in the speakers near future is evident by the lack of conformity, or rhyme scheme. Jenny Joseph uses neither rhyme nor any particular number of lines in a stanza to get her point across. Joseph is criticising people and their self conscience views in lines 16-19 "But now we must have clothes that keep us dry / and pay our rent and not swear in the street / and set a good example for the children. / We must have friends to dinner and read the papers."
This poem is an interesting piece of satire laced with overstatement. The speaker, who wishes for change and even says that she maybe ought to practice now, criticises others for doing this in her speaking, but ironically is still living this life herself. The very idea that someone would eat "only bread and pickle for a week" is obvious overstatement, which lends to the humor of the poem.
As i mentioned, this was a great peom. I acutally printed a copy for my grandmother. Jenyy Joseph captures the very fun of childhood and shows that older women dont always have to be dignified, but rather can live a little.