Poetry Analysis

Crossing A City Highway

Title-

I predict that this poem will be about someone or something crossing 
a city highway and its adventure while crossing.

Paraphrase-

1. The city at 3 a.m. is an ungodly mask

the approaching day hides behind

& from, the coyote nosing forth,

the muscles of something ahead,

It is 3 a.m and the author is describing the city. The next day is coming 
quickly.The coyote is coming forth and sees something.

2. & a fiery blaze of eighteen-wheelers

zoom out of the curved night trees,

along the rim of absolute chance.

A question hangs in the oily air.

The eighteen-wheeler trucks are traveling along the highway passing 
the trees. There is only one question.

3. She knows he will follow her scent

left in the poisoned grass & buzz

of chainsaws, if he can unweave

a circle of traps around the subdivision.

It's a habit for coyotes to use their scent to find something or to get back
 to where they came from. The author describes the grass as poisoned. 
She is now in a neighborhood.

4. For a breathy moment, she stops

on the world’s edge, & then quick as that

masters the stars & again slips the noose

& darts straight between sedans & SUVs.

For a minute she stops. Then after that she starts back on her journey 
on the highway between trucks and cars.

5. Don’t try to hide from her kind of blues

or the dead nomads who walked trails

now paved by wanderlust, an epoch

somewhere between tamed & wild.

Don’t hide. Wanderlust- need to travel. Epoch- a period in history.

6. If it were Monday instead of Sunday

the outcome may be different,

but she’s now in Central Park

searching for a Seneca village

The outcomes portrays the day of the week. The coyote is now in Central 
Park searching.

7. among painted stones & shrubs,

where she’s never been, & lucky

she hasn’t forgotten how to jig

& kill her way home.

The author expresses the scenery that the coyote is new to. Even though
he has taken this journey, she does not forget where she comes from.

Connotation-

In the second stanza, the author uses the word fiery blaze in a positive 
and meaningful way. He is describing the eighteen wheelers as powerful. 
The author also uses the word poisoned in stanza 2 in a negative way 
describe the air outside. He uses the word wanderlust in stanza 5 in a 
positive way to elaborate on the “journey” the coyote is having; where 
she has a strong desire to travel.

Attitude-

The author is making the coyote very assertive; very strong willed. The 
author’s attitude is very awestruck as he speaks on the journey the 
coyote takes.

Shifts-

The first shift in the poem would be from the first stanza to the second. 
The author’s choice in the use of the words “fiery blaze” shifts the poem 
from metrical and lyrical to a very expressive tone. The last shift would 
be from the sixth to the seventh stanza. The author still has the 
expressive and relaxed tone in the sixth. In the seventh stanza, he 
switches form that to relaxed and calm and symbolic.

Title- Poetics

Poetics was a good title for this poem. It doesn’t talk about any poetry, 
but what the author does is uses poetics. He has metrical and lyrical 
aspects, expressive details, and the poem is symbolic. Yusef 
Komunyakaa used this poem to be elegiac , not to tell a story.

Theme-

I feel that this poem is about your journey and at the end of your 
journey finding your way home.