Structure

The structure of the text “The Parents” by Kelly Cherry reflects the hybrid genre of prose poetry. Like most poems, the text lacks a clearly structured plot, and the message is conveyed through lyrical language devices. Like prose texts, “The Parents” is written in prose, in the narrative mode, without verses, rhymes or meter.

Title

The title, “The Parents”, indicates the topic of the text. The article “the” initially suggests the text might be a narrative about some specific parents.

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Beginning

The text begins directly, in media res, by presenting the parents and their babies at a parade: “We bring our babies, blue-eyed babies, brown-eyed babies; we have come to watch the parade, the marching bands.” (p. 47, ll. 1-2), ...

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Middle

The middle of the text presents the way the parents relate to their children as time passes. When children grow into teenagers, the parents feel like they have lost them. After no time at all, or so it seems to the parents, they cannot recognize their children because they have grown up: “Lost at the parade! Where are our babies, our babies? We are looking for them everywhere, frantically, everyone helping and shouting: Find the babies!” (p. 47, ll. 8-10);

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Ending

The ending of the short story presents the children going their own way (out to the cinema, where they can socialize and enjoy themselves) and the parents trying out their ...

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