GIRLHOOD

[Achebe]

so w/ this poem I focused on the fact that some people have childhoods they need to recover from. In this poem, the character's were raised w/ their parents stripping them of their identities aside from being feminine in the most traditional sense. 

While in, ribbons around my throat ...the 'while in' isn't cleared up until the 'once out' in S2, which is a bit confusing
As they knitted my hair out of streamers. 
Manners for every meal with crushed 
Ignorance to wash it all down. I yearned  ....I like 'crushed ignorance'. Nice jamb.
Stupidly: rocking chair. Light bulb. Scissors. ...nice set of disjointed images that conveys restlessness
I kept having a dream about being in a 
Garage, the smell of wood thick, and hitting
The ground until it sank beneath my crooked
Fist. I always cried when I awoke.  .... a fine ending. The dream is somewhat bewildering, and leads on nicely from the images above

Once out, I slept naked whenever I could, .... 'slept naked' can be interpreted variously. Smart.
Shaved my head and crammed my apartment. 
I spent stupidly: name tag. Notepad. Sheer Curtains. ....I like how this repeats the pattern in S1
I kept waking up in the middle of the night, scared 
There would be somebody to drag me back.  .... I like how you haven't lost the thread here.

I washed my clothes and you came home with me
And that was that. She got you too, sometimes I 
Think worse, right by the fucking wrist. Sometimes ... the 'fucking wrist' is mysterious. Not sure if it's referring to corporal punishment or not. Why wrist?
You would turn to me in the morning when you 
Thought I was asleep and whisper it - "Am I pretty?"
And each time I kept my eyes closed. ... I interpret this as - the sister was brought up with low self confidence. Why the narrator kept her eyes closed is not fully revealed - maybe she thought the question was silly, maybe she was jealous, maybe she was tired of being the stronger person - and I like the ambiguity.

Each year, the farther we got from her the harder 
We had to bite down. When we died, our teeth, 
Dulled and soft, were put into a museum built out 
Of clay. That winter it was burnt down. Our teeth  ...in bold - I find this to be outstanding imagery, but the metaphor leaves me confused. The museum of clay is the body, the teeth were dulled from 'biting down', and some winter, the body perished. Except the body couldn't really have perished, only the spirit, unless the narrator is a ghost. The 'it' is therefore confusing.
remained - pearls in ashes. ..splendid

There's a tightly controlled storyline, good use of enjambment, good rhythm and pacing, and some memorable imagery.
Very well done.

Some nits:- i) if you have to explain your poem, that's half the battle lost. In this instance, without the explanation the poem becomes hard to follow. You need to incorporate the preamble in the body of the poem itself in some way ii) on this site, we don't capitalise the start of every line unless it's a new sentence.