"In Memory of Radio" is written in a very loose conversational free-verse style using associative logic. Its use of informal punctuation and speech rhythms show the influence of Projectivist verse, a kind of poetry based on theories articulated by Charles Olson, among others. Unlike more conventional strains of poetry, Projectivist verse does not attempt to illustrate one central idea through imagery or statement but rather to evoke a mood or "circle" an issue through spontaneously recording the writer's thoughts as he or she writes. Such composition is also linked to the improvisatory processes of jazz, which heavily influences Baraka's writing. The poem's use of sometimes in-congruent images, as in "I cannot order you to go to the gaschamber satori like Hitler or Goody Knight" shows the influence of Dadaism, an early twentieth-century art movement which rebelled against traditional subject matter, conventional forms, and often common sense itself.

Mood...