“Monologue for an Onion” is written in tristichs (three-line stanzas). The structure gives the poem a sense of order, although each stanza does not always contain a complete or self-contained thought. The lines often extend from one tristich to another. As “Monologue for an Onion” opens, the speaker is established to be an onion. It speaks in the first person to someone who is busily cutting it up. The onion tells the person, “I don't mean to make you cry.” The onion then adds that it means the person no harm, and yet the person continues to peel its skin away. The onion cannot help but notice that this process of peeling away the skin and cutting up the onion's “flesh” brings tears to the person's eyes.

The onion says, “Poor deluded human: you seek my heart” (line 6). The onion believes that the person's act...