The poem “Mother’s Day” is addressed to Zamora’s three children, and is framed as an apology to them. What does the poet apologize for? She has been an unconventional mother, in that she is not a calm woman who is “always smiling,” devoted to the needs of her husband and children above all. Instead, she has been on a personal journey to know herself, to establish a separate, individual identity.

Because of this, the poet has no guide posts—“neither compass nor binnacle”—to tell her how to live her life. She takes chances and makes mistakes, and this means her life is chaotic and sometimes painful. The poet apologizes to them, but in reality she is giving them a gift on Mother’s Day: the gift of not having to make her mistakes, of traveling with her on this journey so that they will begin their own journeys with more knowledge than she had, and of having a mother who will understand their own struggles, and give them the benefit of her experience. Because she has struggled to make something of herself, she is a better person, a stronger person, and a better mother.

The poem is an apology for the hardships of the journey the poet has had to make, but also an invitation for her children to follow the same path, and to use the guide posts their mother has put up along the way for them.

For more information and teaching resources about poetry please visit the Poetry Foundation Web site.

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