 “Sharks in the Rivers” by Ada Limon is an emotional journey through multiple time periods in the author’s life. There are many ways to interpret Limon’s poem and this is how it speaks to me. First, it begins with the narrator describing her rough childhood, littered with abuse. Next, it then moves to her present time in life and how she gained the strength to move on from her early life difficulties. She creates a somber tone throughout the poem to give the reader the same feeling she had while writing this.  Limon uses different literary techniques to hit the reader’s emotions dead on. Through imagery, syntax, and intention, Limon shares the struggles of an abusive childhood.

“We’ll say unbelievable things / to each other in the early morning-” (Limon, lines 1-2). When a person sees another person in the morning the greeting, “good morning,” is commonly extended. Whether it’s one’s best friend or one’s worst enemy, “good morning” is almost a given pleasantry. Even unfriendly people will be friendly in the morning and the narrator considers this unbelievable in how much it contrasts with the rest of the day. At home the narrator is being abused, so she doesn’t understand why anyone there would wish her a good morning, especially when it’s not. Limon opens up her poem with this stanza to set the tone for the entire piece. She wants the reader to feel the quiet and pushed back emotion that the girl in the story feels. She achieves this by making the reader think about this quote, as opposed to saying, good morning is fake. She also adds the “ – ” at the end of the stanza to make it clear to the reader that these “unbelievable things” being said to her are strictly in the morning. After that, the things being said to her get much, much worse.

In the first half of “Sharks in the Rivers,” the narrator subtly describes her struggles with abuse through metaphors, inferences, and imagery. She does not come right out and say she has been abused because of how ashamed she feels. This is evidenced by her calling herself a “weak-leaf girl,” and saying she is scared of her reflection in the creek, or “sharks” as she calls it. “Our blue coming up from our roots, / our water rising in our extraordinary limbs,” (lines, 3-4). Limon uses these metaphors to hide behind her terrible situation. She wants to get her feelings off of her chest, but doesn’t want to come right out and tell the reader her situation. “Blue coming up from her roots” is the way her skin changes to blue after she is attacked and bruised. The black and blue mark that comes from being hit is the blue coming up from her roots. The water rising from her extraordinary limbs is the tears she is fighting to hold back, but an extraordinary force is making them rise from her eyes. 

Another reason she doesn’t come right out and say she had bruises or was crying is because she is trying to protect the abuser. Her difficulty leaving shows she still is attached to the person who harmed her growing up. She uses imagery like “Consider the handle. / Consider the key,” (line 12) so that the reader can imagine what it’s like to be a young Limon sitting in her room waiting for the door handle to shake, or the lock that’s keeping her in to turn. She uses these short three-word sentences back to back to let the reader know exactly how she feels without truly telling them. The periods after each sentence gives the reader the chance to pause and actually consider the handle, and actually consider the key. It also gives the reader the opportunity to put themselves in the narrator’s shoes as opposed to just picturing her in their heads. By allowing the reader to put themselves in her shoes it makes her argument a lot more relatable for someone who has never gone through something like this. This was Limon’s goal; to get the reader to feel some of the pain that she experienced during this time in her life. Limon uses these metaphors, inferences, and imagery to subtly describe to the reader her lost childhood as opposed to being blatantly obvious about it. She does this as a person because she is ashamed of what has happened to her growing up. She does this as a writer to add more drama and impact to what she is saying.

Throughout the poem the narrator mentions sharks. “I say to a friend, how scared I am of sharks. / How I thought I saw them in the creek / across from my street,” (lines, 14-16). How could one see a shark in a creek? The only things you might see in a creek are rocks, tadpoles, and on a sunny day, your reflection. The shark the narrator is talking about is herself. When she looks in the creek she sees something she’s not proud of, something she is scared of, and that image is her and what her life has become. “Sharks are people too. Sharks are people too. Sharks are people too.” (Limon 26). She is telling herself that being a shark is nothing to be ashamed of. What gives this away are the way the three lines are italicized, repeated, and end in a period. The narrator repeats this line three times to convince herself of something. Almost like a teacher makes a student write something on the chalkboard over and over again until the student understands. She is telling herself that she’s not the only one out there who sees themselves as a shark. Lots pf people are ashamed of one thing or another in their life. Limon uses italics and this punctuation technique so that you actually feel like you are inside her mind as she is thinking these thoughts, as she is convincing herself she isn’t the only one. The quick three-word sentences also add to the point that she is trying to convince herself she is not the only shark out there. The second half of the poem is really where Limon makes use of syntax to get her situation across to the reader. 

The narrator of this poem was abused as a child, and for much of the poem, she struggles with the fact that she will carry this with her forever. Through imagery, syntax, and intention Limon shares the struggles of a girl’s abusive childhood. Through those three techniques and occasional uses of metaphors and intention, Limon paints the picture of a troubled childhood along with moving on and growing from her experiences. In the first part of this poem, she uses words to subtly explain all the pain she carried with her growing up. In addition to this, she uses imagery and intention to make the reader put themselves in the narrator’s shoes to feel the same emotion and sadness that she went though. In the second half of the poem she makes heavy use of syntax like short sentences, punctuation, and italics to put the reader in the girl’s head as she goes through this life- changing journey where she moves on from her tainted past and on to her bright future.