The whiskey stink of rot has settled in the garden
-- The Speaker (Lines 1-2)

Importance: In the opening lines, Borowicz evokes the reader's senses through this olfactory image. Alcohol has a strong, distinct, and widely recognizable smell, and here the pungent odor carries all sorts of possible associations since the speaker compares the scent of rot to whiskey. These associations include waste and decay.

a burst of fruit flies rises when I touch the dying tomato plant
-- The Speaker (Lines 2-3)

Importance: Rot does not prevent the speaker from touching the fly-ridden fruits. This suggests the speaker's willingness to get her hands dirty. The matter-of-fact tone contributes to the sense that rot does not disgust the speaker.

Still, the claws of tiny yellow blossoms flail in the air
-- The Speaker (Lines 4-5)

Importance: "Borowicz personifies the tomato plants as having claws that flail in the air as though grasping for a hold on life. Since blossoms indicate a readiness to bear fruit, the speaker subsequently...