Lines 1-3

The title of the poem "The Weight of Sweetness" is a phrase readers might expect to find as a title for a surrealist poem. By using one sensory experience (gravity) to evoke another (taste), Lee creates a paradox of sorts which his poem works to resolve. The first line, a fragment, alerts us to the tone of the poem. The speaker is having a difficult time enduring sweetness, which the reader understands here as a synonym for tenderness. This line is also an understatement, as readers can infer that the weight of sweetness is no doubt almost unbearable for the speaker. The next two lines are presented as a multiple choice item one might expect to find on a college entrance test, but here the speaker provides the answer as well. Gravity is the force which both literally and metaphorically weighs things down. By saying that...