In this poem, the narrator is describing her pregnancy in metaphorical language, exploring an ambivalence about it.
She first announces herself as a "riddle in nine syllables" (the poem is also nine lines long). She then describes herself as an elephant, similar to a huge house. She is also like a watermelon, walking along on two small legs, though she praises both the “red fruit” of her belly and the “fine timbers” of her legs. She then compares herself to a loaf of bread, its yeast rising big and full, and a coin purse stuffed with newly-minted money.