When Giving is All We Have

The poem’s form is inviting and reader-friendly. It consists of nine verses: eight compact couplets and a one-line coda. It uses plainspoken language and everyday imagery meant to be easily understandable: rivers coming together, a diamond in a pile of nails, two primary colors mixing into a secondary color. 

Adding to the poem’s accessibility is its conversational meter. The rhythm is flexible, with each line a variation on iambic pentameter (typically, 10 syllables of alternative stress and unstress, but here less regular). This makes the lines feel less sing-song or performative. The poem is unrhymed, or in blank verse. However, there are some slant rhymes and end-line repetition that offers a similar effect to more traditional rhyme.

This formal looseness gives the poem an organic feel and allows recitation to emphasize critical words rather than follow an anticipated beat.

Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase to build to momentum and create a feeling of dramatic movement. The first two couplets repeat the words “We give because” (Lines 1-4); the third