In the Folk Museum
He recalls a day when he visited a folk museum and realised that he did not belong
Speaking as an adult who does not belong to Australia and its historical past. You are confronted directly with his adult insecurities.
First four stanzas are structured as a single sentence representing the rush of memories
Ironically the last stanza ends with a direct question by the caretaker, “Would you please sign the Visitor’s Book?” representing Skryznecki’s belief that he will always be a migrant who will never truly belong.
Opens symbolically in darkness, and moves to describe the relics from a cultural and historical past that is not Skryznecki’s.
He feels disconnected from the caretaker who he sees as being grey and cold, but who, as the simile “her hair’s the same colour as the grey clay bottle” suggests, belongs to the world of the museum. The alliterative use of the consonant ‘w’ represents Skryznecki’s desire to leave this alien place
Speaking as an adult who does not belong to Australia and its historical past. You are confronted directly with his adult insecurities.
First four stanzas are structured as a single sentence representing the rush of memories
Ironically the last stanza ends with a direct question by the caretaker, “Would you please sign the Visitor’s Book?” representing Skryznecki’s belief that he will always be a migrant who will never truly belong.
Opens symbolically in darkness, and moves to describe the relics from a cultural and historical past that is not Skryznecki’s.
He feels disconnected from the caretaker who he sees as being grey and cold, but who, as the simile “her hair’s the same colour as the grey clay bottle” suggests, belongs to the world of the museum. The alliterative use of the consonant ‘w’ represents Skryznecki’s desire to leave this alien place