Summary

The first poem of the collection, “Theories of Time and Space” acts as an introduction to the book, set apart from the three sections into which the remainder of the poems are divided. As its title suggests, the poem deals mainly with the concepts of time and space through the speaker’s autobiographical lens. They take the reader on a verbal journey by describing a trip that begins with heading “south on Mississippi 49 … to its natural conclusion - dead end/at the coast” and concludes with boarding the “boat for ship Island” (1). Throughout the poem, the speaker deals with ideas concerning the relationship between time and space, as well as the impacts time has on the self.

“The Southern Crescent” is a poem divided into two sections. In the first, the speaker describes a trip her mother took in 1959 from Mississippi to California...