Sometimes I Find Myself Weeping at the Oddest Moment Analysis

sometimes I find myself
weeping
at the oddest moment

an unexpected voice
mon oncle André
calling Christmas Day
wishing me
a Merry Christmas

and I am
that little girl
walking across the lake
with her grandfather
to check on the snares
and traps he has set
in this frost
exploding moon
in surrounding islands

the frost is biting
and he motions I walk
in the shade
of his warm body

soon he claims
we will be
in the thick of brush
and we will make a fire
to warm our bodies
drink le thé muskeg
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Rita Bouvier is a Saskatchewan Metis poet, born and raised in the barren Northern end of the province.  In all of her poems, she combines English with traditional Metis French or Cree, to give the author a deeper reading experience.  This poem, "Sometimes I Find Myself Weeping at the Oddest Moment," is no different.  Mrs. Bouvier uses her writing style, combined with some personification and symbolism to give the average reader having to work hard to find a hidden meaning to the poem.

The first stanza is meant to be used as a hook, to draw the reader in.  Only the title is included.  I have found that many of the poems that I have recently analyzed do not talk about the title very much.  Instead of following a traditional poem skeleton, Mrs. Bouvier finds a way to make the reader think deeply about the poem's hidden meaning by making them as readers question themselves right away in the first stanza.  Notice how the title is separated into three lines.  I believe the author wanted to introduce the protagonist as an insecure, scared, and perhaps depressed individual.  The protagonist is, indeed, Mrs. Bouvier as a child, reliving one of her favourite memories, weeping when she believed nobody was around her.  Perhaps the author wanted to portray herself using realism, instead of pretending to be something she was (and perhaps still is) not.  This is very honourable and I have found recently that many poems can be superficial or funny.  There is nothing wrong with those types of poems.  However, "Sometimes I Find Myself Weeping at the Oddest Moment" is a real-life experience, retold after her memory held onto it for decades.  This tells me that the author has a great memory.

The next four (and final) stanzas talk about her uncle Andre coming across his niece, weeping.  As any good relative should, her Uncle Andre makes a substantial effort to cheer her up, starting with wishing his niece a Merry Christmas.  Obviously, something as small as this can have a huge impact on a person's mental state.  I see Andre as a giant man, threatening to people who oppose him, yet gentle to his loved ones.  The author is able to tie in the themes of care and togetherness into the poem.  Perhaps the author was lonely as a child.  Perhaps this saved her, mentally. Some uses of literary devices are found in the third and fourth stanzas, as Uncle Andre and his niece, Mrs. Bouvier walks across the frozen lake to check on the traps he set to catch food.  A particularly symbolic one is represented in the following: "exploding moon." Obviously, the moon has not and will not explode in the foreseeable future.  This not only personifies the moon but gives it symbolic power.  It helps us as humans to realize that we are very small compared to the vast universe and that we should learn to be more humble and caring.  This use of personification and symbolism is exceptional, making us realize a deeper meaning to life.  My summary of the meaning is condensed into one sentence, however, I could easily write a four-page paper on the topic, and how it relates to this poem. Another example of personification is found in the next stanza: "the frost is biting."  Perhaps the author was cold, but with her uncle Andre there alongside her, she had absolutely nothing to worry about.  I believe that Mrs. Bouvier wanted uncle Andre to be her hero, depicting him as heroic, using most of the final two stanzas to do so.  When Mrs. Bouvier got cold and was starting to worry, uncle Andre was there to reassure her, to stop her weeping, promising (and following through) on some muskeg tea to warm the both of them up.  This ending nicely ties back to the author's aboriginal roots, as the muskeg tea has been used by generations for the first peoples of Canada, giving another hidden meaning to this curious poem.

I believe that the author wanted to symbolize the first peoples of Canada.  She was able to do so effectively by including themes such as loneliness (how the first peoples are isolated in today's society), caring (how the government is helping to integrate these peoples back into society), and togetherness (why these peoples must stick together in today's world).  The author has created a poem that is highly, highly relevant in today's world for aboriginals and all other races.  Some may argue that the first peoples are not caring and do not deserve to be looked after by anyone, however, they are a pillar of our history that must not be forgotten.  The author deploys mature themes to create a reading experience deeper than many other poems.