I can remember you, child,
As I stood in a hot, white
Room at the window watching
The people and cars taking
Turn at the traffic lights.
Clarke is at the window either between contractions or after the birth of her daughter. Significantly, she is standing and not lying in bed, as if alert and preparing for the complex years ahead. 
 The adjectives ‘hot’ and ‘white’ are  oxymoronic , creating a stark, oppressive, tense atmosphere.  ‘Hot’ suggests the passion of mother-and-child love and the hard work of labour; ‘white suggests sterility and coldness.  The conflict is already established.
Catrin