#10

Mary's Argument
To lead the uncommon life is not so bad.
There is an edge we come to count on
when all the normal signs don't speak,
a startled vigilance that keeps us waking
to watch the moon, the peculiar stars;
the usual, underfoot, no more a solid comfort
than a rock that might move as a turtle moves,
so slowly only the nervous feel the sudden bump
of the familiar giving way to unrequested astonishment.
And for a small time, the sheer cliff of everything
we never knew can rise in front of us
like the warm dark, where the starlight
has its constant conception, where the idea of turtle
blinked and was: a wry joke, an intricate affection

What I got of this poem is that the author accepting that things in life for what they are. She realizes that life is not perfect and it okay to deal with problems and complication that may arise. She is walking through life paying close attention to the sign that the nature gives her. She uses the star and moon as metaphors for guidance that might help her through the obstacles life may bring. The author is already in her comfort zone dealing with the normal aspects of life. Then in the line 6, she says the usual, underfoot, no more a solid comfort. It shows how she has to step out of what she is used to and deal with things that are not planned.The author uses a turtle to create a imagery about life. How slow life seems to appear and unclear to her. She has to take things slower than usual and find new ways to be successfully.

I don't know if I'm right or not but a can also see this poem from the aspect of Mary being a virgin and comparing it to life. How in the beginning she was indeed a virgin and could basically predicate everything that will happen in her life. Then, unfortunately things change and she is force into a unfamiliar view of life and she writing this poem to remind herself that you can make it through any situation that may occur. You just have to think it through thoroughly and know you are going to make the right decisions.