"Mother's Mother" by Kiniko Hahn

In the poem , “Mother’s Mother”, Kimiko Hahn tells her readers that we learn all the important things from our mothers. In her poem, she explains how she has been learning her language from her mother, and how her mother knows many different languages that she learned from her own mother. She also explains how when her grandmother dies, and her mother dies, there would not have been enough time to learn everything they knew, and she wouldn’t be able to pass their knowledge down to her own kids,  making it even more depressing when they die.  I love how she uses the Japanese language to show some of her points, and how she compares the syllabic Japanese scripts with everyday modern objects. For example, she says “she can write her name in the kana that resembles tv antennae. She also explains how she can feel that she is a part of her mother and that her children are a part of her. I really enjoyed this poem because I can relate to the feeling of having part of my mother in me, and how I do many things the exact same way as my mother does. This poem is true for any gender, or culture, or even society. The older generation makes a huge compact to the younger generation, and the elder teach the younger. When the elder die, the younger have to take control and then be in charge. She uses the Japanese symbols to say “it is endless” and I think that correlates well with the rest of the poem because it is a never ending process to teach each and every younger generation.