Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes / And watched her perfect, half-clothed body sway.
-- The Speaker (Lines 1 – 2)

Importance: These lines establish the tone and themes of the poem, namely longing and sexual desire, respectively. They also set up that the female body will be treated throughout the poem, as the dancer is introduced only as the object of the audience's gaze. The setting is also established as somewhere in the underbelly of Harlem.

To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm / Grown lovelier for passing through a storm.
-- The Speaker (Lines 7 – 8)

Importance: The palm tree is the most notable image from the poem. On the one hand, the metaphor imparts dignity onto the dancer, as she is described as proud. Trees are also associated with strength and beauty, possessing the power of the natural world. The metaphor also suggests that the dancer may have, like McKay himself, Caribbean heritage.

And tossing coins in praise / The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even...
-- The Speaker (Lines 10 – 12)