keeping orchids

• “remain closed as secrets” - simile


  just as the buds of the flowers never open up to show their true beauty to her, so too does her birth mother refuse to share her knowledge about the poet’s early life this suggests that the poet is disappointed and angry that her birth mother withheld this information.
• so does/cutting the stems with a sharp knife - emjambment

  just as she is physically cutting the stems of the flowers, so too is she cutting off contact with her mother and no longer attempting to develop a relationship with her. This suggests that their relationship is over and she feels a sense of bitterness and closure towards it.