- palsnounChapter 1 →
Close friends or companions, used here in an informal, affectionate sense to describe the group of young women the mother socialises with.
“I'm ten years away from the corner you laugh on / with your pals, Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff.”
- decadenounChapter 1 →
A period of ten years; here it refers specifically to the ten years of the mother's life before the speaker was born.
“The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell / was the best one, eh?”
- possessiveadjectiveChapter 1 →
Wanting to own or control someone completely; here it describes the speaker's claim on her mother simply by being born and needing her.
“The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell / was the best one, eh?”
- yellnounChapter 1 →
A loud cry; used here to represent the speaker's first cry at birth, the moment she entered the world and began to take her mother away from her former life.
“The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell / was the best one, eh?”
- ehChapter 1 →
An informal tag used at the end of a statement to invite agreement or acknowledgement, carrying a tone of wistful, rhetorical appeal to the mother.
“The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell / was the best one, eh?”
- boldadjectiveChapter 1 →
In Scottish and Irish usage, daring, lively, and a little cheeky or naughty — not simply brave; here it captures the mother's spirited, flirtatious younger self.
“I wanted the bold girl winking in Portobello, somewhere / in Scotland, before I was born.”
- winkingverbChapter 1 →
Closing one eye briefly as a playful or flirtatious signal; here it suggests the mother's mischievous, carefree charm captured in a photograph.
“I wanted the bold girl winking in Portobello, somewhere / in Scotland, before I was born.”
- glamorousadjectiveChapter 1 →
Excitingly attractive and full of charm or allure, suggesting a dazzling, film-star quality that the speaker projects onto her mother's younger self.
“That glamorous love looms at me / from the ballroom with the thousand eyes.”
- loomsverbChapter 1 →
Appears in a large, imposing, or overwhelming way; here the memory or image of the mother's past rises up powerfully in the speaker's imagination.
“That glamorous love looms at me / from the ballroom with the thousand eyes.”
- ballroomnounChapter 1 →
A large hall used for formal or social dancing; here it evokes the glamorous dance venues where the mother spent her Saturday nights before motherhood.
“That glamorous love looms at me / from the ballroom with the thousand eyes.”
- cha-chanounChapter 1 →
A lively Latin American ballroom dance with a distinctive three-step rhythm; here it is the dance the mother teaches the young speaker, a remnant of her earlier, freer life.
- dramatic monologuenoun
A poem spoken entirely by a single voice addressing a silent listener; here the speaker addresses her mother directly throughout, as if in one-sided conversation.
Before You Were MineShort story by Carol Ann Duffy