Hart has degrees in literature and creative writing. In this essay, she explores the title’s meaning in Barbarese’s poem.

J. T. Barbarese’s poem “Walk Your Body Down” offers clear images of city life that include a couple arguing, a baby singing, crowded living conditions typical of urban living, and a sense of isolation felt by individuals in the midst of city crowds. There is little abstraction in the images, and the meanings or connotations are rather easily grasped. However, the title of the poem, as well as its message, is a little more difficult to understand. Just what exactly does the narrator mean by the recommendation to “walk your body down?” How does one do it? And is there anything in the poem itself that helps the reader answer these questions and understand the meaning of the...