Summary

In “The Universe as Primal Scream” the speaker imagines the possible reasons or contexts for the children living in the apartment above them screaming at “5pm on the nose” every day (57). The speaker supposes it could be an experiment their parents are conducting to see if they can shatter the good crystal, or that their mother is so proud of the lungs “she nursed/to such might,” or even that the children are attempting to reach that “magic decibel” that will cause the building to “lift-off, and we’ll ride to glory/like Elijah” (57). The speaker welcomes this possibility, expressing a desire to meet their fate no matter what form it takes.

“Everything That Ever Was” is a poem in which the speaker explores the idea that the past exists forever, “somewhere,/floating near the surface, nursing/it’s hunger for you and...