"Things Shouldn't Be So Hard" by Kay Ryan

When first listening to this poem I thought about an older woman who had been getting up and doing the same routine for years and years- never doing anything unexpected. I felt as though this woman was trapped in her day-to-day life, but even though she had a routine and she was comfortable in that routine, nothing ever came from it. Nothing was worn or rubbed down or even made to look like she had even lived there.

It seems as though the author is writing it from an autobiographical perspective. Maybe her mother, aunt, grandma, or someone close to her had passed away and when she went to see the house, maybe help clear out furniture, it all looked so un-touched and not bothered with. Nothing in the house even left an imprint to make you believe someone even lived there. It was as if she was erased from the earth before even dying.

This poem also had a great sense of imagery, I could clearly see an old woman going about her daily tasks in an old house with old fixtures and furniture and just walking around with a gloomy face because she just wanted to be recognized and leave in imprint on something. We all want to be remembered, no matter how miniscule it is.