Imagery

Writers create pictures in readers' minds through images utilizing the five senses. Graham employs aural imagery when describing "the slow overture of rain," visual imagery when describing "hummingbirds / imagining their wings," and tactile imagery when describing "the dank . . . soil." With the exception of the city and its streets, all the images in her poem come from nature.

Abstraction

Abstraction refers to ideas or qualities as opposed to things. Graham mixes abstract statements with her imagery, often using them to comment on the imagery. For example, in the following lines from the middle of the poem, she comments on the mind, using an abstract statement:

It is
what is driven through
all stationary portions
of the world, gravity's
stake in things.

Graham's abstractions make her poem difficult while also making it intriguing. She has attributed her propensity for abstraction to her schooling in France.

Enjambment

Enjambment, also know as...