A Work of Artifice

I think this poem is definitely about female suppression. The bonsai tree, being the woman.  Hair curlers..."domestic"...attractive pot...bound feet...
http://images.lovelovechina.com/Foot_binding.jpg
Well, that's a gross as it gets.
But what I really liked about this poem was the title.  Artifice is a clever trick or cunning.  It was very interesting that she used that as the title.  It's not just about how woman are turned into a beautiful, tiny tree, but how they are tricked into it.  Woman are made to believe foot-binding is the beautiful thing, or that hair curlers are necessary.  The "gardner" uses tricks to create this idea, saying that the woman is weak and coy, and she is lucky to have a simple life, or "pot," there for her.  That she should be happy for what she does have.
In class, people considered the gardner to be men.  I think the gardner can be more woman then men sometimes.  At least in my life time, woman tend to be the ones expecting other woman to fit into the potter.  Don't get me wrong, men also expect women to have the correct look, but it seems women create this look.  Many women expect others to be the beautiful, simple things to be looked at.  So I see it as a more universal thing, seeing woman as things that need to be controlled.