The Possessive - Empty NestA nest sits empty at the top of a forked branch of an old oak tree. Last spring, children played, young lovers whispered in each other's ears, and elderly people relaxed under this tree. When they do, they can hear the quiet chirps of hungry little baby blue jays. The little blue jays chirp until the mother blue jay returns with food. Then we try to fly and fall from the nest. The mother blue jay then quickly swoops down and catches the cub before it hits the ground. The baby jay can always count on his mother when he needs her, but she knows that one day he will no longer count on her. On that day, instead of sinking to death, the young blue jay will spread its wings and fly away. He will fly straight towards the setting sun without ever looking back. Little by little, all the babies will fly away and leave the mother alone in the nest. However, mothers do not always handle this situation calmly. In “The Possessive,” Sharon Olds evokes intense images of betrayal and uses war as a metaphor to express a mother's emotion as her daughter leaves the nest. The poem reflects the separation anxiety the mother experiences as she watches her daughter mature and distance herself. To create the mood of the poem, Olds relies heavily on imagery to create the effect. The mother feels betrayed when she sees her daughter slipping away from her. Small, insignificant acts like a simple haircut evoke strong images of discomfort. The barber is described as a "knife sharpener" (4) sharpening the edges of his daughter's hair as if they were weapons. Olds slips in words such as “slice” and “blade,” which project images of separation into the reader’s mind. She follows these images with sharp edges and cold steel, then tops it all off with blazing red fire. The red color, strong and intense, spreads across the lines of the poem like the blood of soldiers in a fierce battle. The vibrant nature of the color red attracts the human eye and creates intense emotions. The intense images express the intensity of the mother's emotions. The images in this poem suffer from the pain and discomfort the mother experiences as the mother and daughter prepare for a battle. The images create the presence of the war metaphor in the poem..