Symbol Analysis
Some of the best times happen in the kitchen when folks are cooking, talking, and drinking. That's just a universal truth. In Clifton's poem, the setting revolves around the kitchen where everyone is enjoying themselves and mom is baking some bread. It feels warm, inviting, and the perfect place for "good times."
- Line 9: As soon as we see mom making some bread, the poem's mood immediately feels warm and inviting. We can almost smell those good times here as the speaker uses the kitchen as a place for family and fun.
- Lines 12-13: Everyone is singing and dancing in the kitchen, so if that doesn't prove that the kitchen is the place to be, we don't know what does. With that bread baking in the oven and the whole family together, the kitchen feels like the ideal setting for family fun.