Quatrains In Growing Points

I feel I could be turned to ice If this goes on, if this goes on. I feel I could be buried twice And still the death not yet be done. I feel I could be turned to fire If there could be no end to this. I know within me such desire No kiss could satisfy , no kiss.

I feel I could be turned to stone A solid block not carved at all, Because I feel so much alone. I could be grave-stone or a wall.

But better to be turned to earth Where other things at least can grow. I could be then a part of birth, Passive , not knowing how to know. (314)
The four rhymed quatrains are controlled successively by images of ice, fire, stone, and earth exact images which symbolize particular moods and feelings relating to the overwhelming desire for oblivion. This single poem sums up and epitomizes many of the inchoate feelings that were diffused among the various poems of Relationships. “I Feel” is representative of the best poems in Growing Points, poems which show that Jennings has achieved her new voice and a new authority.
The poems in Growing Points encompass personal themes, as well as a broad range of
The poet coins words and create new meanings, constantly renewing the “coinage” which “looked frail six weeks ago.” In the final rhetorical question, Jennings suggests that ideas will continue to be precipitated and embodied even by “utterly bare” branches which will “seem like something else.” Thoughts and insights beneath the surface of consciousness, “now half forgotten,” “will be aroused by the “bare branches” and will take on a different form: “mo part of a