My Grandmother in the Stars Summary

In the poem, Nye is thinking about her grandmother and that they may not see each other again. Her grandmother is old and could die, or Nye could die. This makes Nye very sad.

It is possible we will not meet again

on earth. To think this fills my throat with dust.

(Nye, My Grandmother and the Stars)

Nye is thinking about where her grandmother lives and her memories of things around her grandmother’s home. She talks about the horse and the cow because they are at the place where her grandmother lives. She wants to know what her grandmother is thinking about things that she is remembering.

Just now the neighbor’s horse must be standing

patiently, hoof on stone, waiting for his day

to open. What you think of him,

and the village’s one heroic cow,

is the knowledge I wish to gather.

(Nye, Grandmother)

            In the last paragraph of the poem, Nye is saying that people live everywhere their memories are from. She has memories of where her grandmother lives, so she lives there too. She and her grandmother have good memories in their hearts and that is what makes them rich.

Where we live in the world

is never one place. Our hearts,

those dogged mirrors, keep flashing us

moons before we are ready for them.

You and I on a roof at sunset,

our two languages adrift,

heart saying, Take this home with you,

never again,

and only memory making us rich.

(Nye, Grandmother)