"Marks" by Linda Pastan

Linda Pastan
Linda Pastan was a poet in college, and her senior year she won the Mademoiselle Poetry prize. after college however, she stopped writing to focus on her family. she has returned to writing since, and now her poetry mostly consists of topics covering marriage, parenting, and grief.

Marks

My husband gives me an A
for last night's supper,
an incomplete for my ironing,
a B plus in bed.
My son says I am average,
an average mother, but if
I put my mind to it
I could improve.
My daughter believes
in Pass/Fail and tells me
I pass. Wait 'til they learn
I'm dropping out. 

This poem is written in free verse with 12 lines in one stanza. The brevity of this poem is noticeable, and how each line only has a few words. Pastan only needs a few words to get her point across; being a mother is difficult. You must always be there when someone needs you and if it's not enough then you rarely ever get a break. She equates mothering to being in school, being graded and judged. This relates to my own life, because I realize that I do this to my own mother. Mothers have a wide range of responsibilities; making dinner, doing laundry, pleasing their husbands, and tending to their children. These responsibilities of a mother are all simultaneous, and we must not and should not expect all of these tasks to be up to one person. We must learn to appreciate what we have and who helps us do it.

The poem is about a mother trying her best and still not being recognized for her hard work. While her husband gives her a B for her work, her son says she is "average." The last line, "wait til they learn I'm dropping out" alludes to an inkling that the mother might quit. What happens when the person running the show quits? The show doesn't go on. Without a person willing to take on all these responsibilities there would be no happy family. We must recognize and appreciate all the things that our mothers do for us "behind the scenes," and realize that even though it's not advertised or seemingly the most important thing in our lives, it does mean a lot and can affect someone in more ways than one.