Point of View

This poem is told from an unusual omniscient first-person point of view. The voice functions mostly as a third-person omniscient narrator; it’s only in the third and final stanza that the subjective individual is introduced: “I skim the classifieds for a place / to rest my bones” (Lines 20-21). This acts as a tightening of a cinematic lens — the first two stanzas are told through an omniscient “wide lens”, tightening at the end of the second stanza and moving into a close up for the closing stanza. This opens a range of possible interpretations as to the speaker’s identity, and how they are viewing the world around them. The poem closes on a single image viewed through the speaker’s eyes.

Language and Meaning

This poem uses a blend of concrete language and figurative, composite imagery. The opening lines draw the reader in with...