From Norway With Caraway (edit 3.1)

[wasellajam]

I think I have figured out part of what made me uncomfortable with characters. It’s again the word-tense-actions, and the action assignments. The poem starts off with we, decisively clearing a house. The daughter, father, mother, all part of the rich backdrop.

Then this premise gets undone. The daughter is awarded a name and agency in the third section. This makes sense, she is now the holder of this ancestral tea. But no, in the next section it is the unseen we again.

And the concluding section makes it clear that the narrator is the one holding it. The narrator centers Alice and then yanks her back before she can do something interesting. What to do? Dunno. My own reading, take with salt.

My chive garden is threatening to blossom, I need to pickle the buds (to have on top of an aspic?). Garden Hen, begin.

Thank you for your clear explanation. It's possible that eliminating the we in S1 will help. I was hoping that the phrase "clearing the house" would make it clear that MawMaw had passed and all the other action is Alice's. Is that unclear?
A poem can wait, a garden cannot. Enjoy it!