The Past

Through the poems in the first section of the collection, the author considers how rapidly time passes, and the consequent hold of the past over the present. In "Late Poems," she compares poems to a sailor's late letters, messages arriving "after he's drowned" (3). The transience of the written word troubles the speaker, as she acknowledges how quickly her own work, and the works of others will fade away, and thus lose their meaning. By the end of the poem, however, this acknowledgement inspires the speaker to claim the life she has left, and to appreciate the present instead of allowing the disintegrating past to defeat her.

In "Salt," the author uses biblical allusions as an entryway to her discussion on remembrance and memory. At the start of the poem, the speaker tries identifying an era in time when things "were good" (5). Yet no particular time...