The poem "Clearances" is an ode to the poet's mother, meant to function as a reconciliation with her death. After Heaney clearly establishes her death, he goes on to explore several private moments wherein he spent time with his mother and their bond developed. In the third sonnet, Heaney explores an instance during which he and his mother peeled potatoes alone as the rest of their family attended Mass. In this particular memory, Heaney says that he was "all hers," and that throughout the rest of their lives, he was never closer to his mother than in that memory.

What is most striking about this particular memory is how there is no form of verbal or even direct communication between the two. The potatoes are the "cold comforts" between them, and the "little pleasant splashes" from the peels are the only things that bring them "to their senses." What the line "our fluent dipping knives" means is that the act of peeling potatoes together communicates more between them than words ever could. The knives are "fluent" because Heaney himself admits that this moment was the instance in which he was closer to his mother than he had ever been, despite there being no verbal communication.