You can get there from here, though/there’s no going home.”
-- The Speaker (Prologue)

Importance: This line is important because it presents early on one of the concepts at the heart of the collection, the idea of time as a force of irreversible change. As the speaker pens this retrospective of their travels to Ship Island, they acknowledge the way in which the visit ultimately changed them, and how the historical knowledge and the experiences they gained from the trip prevent them from reverting back to the person they were before they embarked on the journey.

Today,/she is sure we can leave home, bound only/for whatever awaits us.”
-- The Speaker (I)

Importance: This quote is significant because in a poem that explores the concept of journeying, it simultaneously offers two very different motivations for undertaking any journey. The first is the idea of leaving something behind, in this case home, while the second is the...