and it feels like going home.
-- The Speaker (Line 4)

Importance: This is one of only two lines in the entire poem to use an end stop. It closes the first stanza, a quatrain that contrasts the much longer second stanza, and acts as a thematic statement for the rest of the poem’s journey. Here, the poet explains what they are going to convey in the images and phrasing below.

all the evenings of slow sky and slow loving, slow boats on sluggish bayous;
-- The Speaker (Line 6)

Importance: This line establishes the repetitive nature of certain ideas, particularly the extensive use of the word “slow”. Although each usage in this quotation acts as a verb, its relationship to the concrete, quantifiable world varies. The first instance acts to define the passage of time; the second is internal and explores the relationships between characters; and the third is a more literal usage that describes a quantifiable object. The final...