When interviewer Nancy Bunge asked Lisel Mueller to comment on her style of writing, the poet had this to say: "My poetry is largely Germanic in the sense that I usually use strong, short words and not many Latinates because they sound weaker to me—conversational, essayistic." The "Latinates" that Mueller refers to are words derived from the ancient Roman and Latin languages, including those we now call the Romance languages, such as Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Words in these languages tend to be lengthier than the terse, sharper-sounding Germanic words, and, therefore, may sound more "conversational."

"The Exhibit" demonstrates Mueller's use of Germanic style in that its language is simple, yet powerful in delivering the message, and the lines are compact, fairly even in length, giving the poem the look of a short, neat rectangle on the page. There is no obvious rhyme and little alliteration...