Point of View

“Busking” opens with a second-person voice before shifting to first person in the fourth stanza. Initially, the poem seems to invite the reader directly into the scene: “sun a cold coin / drumming into the blue” (Lines 3-4). The speaker seems to be saying that the reader is not so different from themself. Soon, the “I” pronoun becomes prevalent, appearing in the next three consecutive stanzas. In the seventh stanza, the poet brings together both identities in a single line: “You’ve seen me, brushed past” (Line 16). Now, the speaker is emphasizing the contrast rather than the similarities. This juxtaposition inverts the readers’ initial expectation and makes them question their relationship to such scenes in their own lives.

Language and Meaning

The poem uses relatively simple language with few word choices to challenge the average reader. Particularly in the opening stanzas, many of the sentences are...