"The Photos" tells the instance where the speaker and her sister examine a photo with their father in it. they discover it was a photo intended for his second wife, the one he left their mother for. Their mother an old "sad rag bag of a woman" asks to see it, and the speaker questions this instance. Did they unconsciously want to hurt their mother? Why did they even let her see it? But she moves on and drives home. But it is their where she sees her reflection, and "hates her destiny".
Does she feel her mother's condition and "luck" is destined to clench her life as well? There is still many things to figure out. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The line "I have killed my children" definitely intrigues me. I fear the poem is not as simple as it seems, or perhaps it is...
Some interesting insights to follow up. The intriguing line refers to Medea, which has a rather complex relation to the poem, somewhat flipping the reality of the mother's situation, bu then, there is always this dissociation, dis-parity, between reality and art--you might look into the myth a bit more. The relationship of mother-daughter is the thing, how it haunts, and the emptiness which is a "destiny" for us all
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