The poem seems to describe a woman, Marcette, found hanging from a wisteria tree in the early morning. The title calls her a "swamp hag," and the quotation marks around "her" suggest that this label isn't quite hers to own. It may be how others see her, or a name she has been given. The poem never says outright what has happened, but the image of her as a "pendulum" and the word "finale" point strongly toward her death.
The speaker stays at a distance. There is no "I" and no direct statement of grief, only a series of observed details: a mourning family, a foul smell like the rafflesia flower, a passing vagabond, a confused child on a bench. The tone is eerie and oddly delicate. "Daintily swaying" makes something horrifying sound almost graceful, and that clash is what unsettles. The closing "mass hysteria" lands abruptly, leaving a mood of shock, curiosity, and unease, as though the whole community is reacting to her at once.