Monsoon

History
Arissa, Shanelle
 Stanza 4
Reading Tennyson, at six p.m. in pajamas,
Listening to down-pouring rain; the air ticks
With gnats, black spiders fly,
Moths sweep out of our rooms
Where termites built
Their hills of eggs and queens zoom
In heat.
We wash our feet
For bed, watch mother uncoil
Her snake hair, unbuckle
The silver mesh around her waist,
Waiting for father pacing
The sands as fishers pull
From the Straits after monsoon.
“Reading Tennyson, at six p.m. in
pajamas,
Listening to down-pouring rain”
 Meaning:
The poet is reading the verses of the famous Victorian English poet, Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, at six o’clock
in the evening, in his pajamas, while listening to the rhythm of falling rain.

Alfred Tennyson
 “the air ticks
With gnats, black spiders fly,
Moths sweep out of our rooms
Where termites built
Their hills of eggs and queens zoom
In heat.
”
 Meaning:
The air is blowing with the small insects flying everywhere. Moths flying out of their rooms, where the termites lay their eggs and
where the queen termite lives in heat.

Termites - a small, pale soft-bodied insect that lives in large colonies with several different castes, typically within a mound of
cemented earth. Many kinds feed on wood and can be highly destructive to trees and timber.

Queen termite - a queen termite has a long lifespan and is typically the oldest termite in the colony. Termite queens can live 25 to
50 years, with peak egg production for up to 10 years. When the queen dies and the pheromone she uses to block reproductives'
development is no longer produced, a new queen will develop in the colony.
 “We wash our feet
For bed, watch mother uncoil
Her snake hair, unbuckle
The silver mesh around her waist,
Waiting for father pacing the sands as
fishers pull from the straits of the
monsoon
”
 Meaning:
They was their feet before going to sleep. The mother letting down her long hair , unbuckling her silver mesh belt, waiting
for her husband– who was most likely a fisherman – to come home.

Straits of the monsoon: The Straits of Malacca and Singapore is one of the most
important shipping waterways in the world from both an economic and a strategic
perspective.

silver mesh belt

Thank You