The Gift by Li-Young Lee

While reading this poem all I could think about was my relationship with my mother and how it can be the best at times, but also not the best of times. This poem talks about a father digging a splinter out of the kids foot. I have many experiences with this, but not with my father but with my mother. She is not the most sensitive person in the world and also not the most gentle. Whenever I got a splinter it was usually from my wood play set outside that my mom built herself with my dad. So back to the splinter caught in my foot from the play set she would set me down by the backyard door and get the dreaded tweezers. She would not gently dig for the splinter, no she would dig those tweezers in until she got the splinter, she did not care if I bled. Though she was not sensitive to my feeling she always managed to get the splinter out. This poem is also about growing and how the dad gets into a flashback when taking a splinter out of his own daughter, a flashback to his own father taking out his splinter. Shows that parents will always be there even for the little things like taking a splinter out. My mom may not have been the nicest person about taking it out, but without her who would of taken out my splinter. My mom was there and will always be there to take the splinters out.