The mother is the introspective speaker of the poem who experiences the emotional fallout of having multiple abortions. She reflects on her actions with a mixture of candidness and sorrow, attempting to find the exact words to explain her choices. Her thoughts hover between plausible deniability and harsh self-accusation as she considers the hypothetical lives of the children she did not carry to term.

The children are the aborted offspring of the speaker, living out complete, imaginary lives within her mind. Although they never existed physically outside the womb, the speaker envisions them doing ordinary things like sucking their thumbs, giggling, working, and marrying. They are faint but forceful presences in the mother's memory, holding the weight of potential futures that were permanently interrupted.