Lines 1-2

The first line of "The Blue Rim of Memory" sets up the premise for all the images and events that follow throughout the poem. Everything from this point on will be a description of "the way sorrow enters the bone," and the poet will rely on metaphors to get her point across. Line 2 generalizes the specific images that are about to come, suggesting that sorrow is sometimes felt quickly and can be as painful as the "stabs" of a knife. At other times, it seems to linger on the sidelines of a person's thoughts and emotions, an ever-present grief that permeates the memory.

Lines 3-5

These lines open the first of four central metaphors in the poem, and the most extended one as well. "From a torn page" implies that this image is like one taken from a book, a moment alienated from the rest of...