Morning in the Burned House

“Morning in the Burned House” is a free-verse poem of 36 lines divided into stanzas of three lines called tercets. The lines themselves do not employ meter and vary in length. Organization rests instead on the flow of thoughts and emotions and how they shift the solidity of the narrative. 

The first half of the poem deals directly with the house, who does and does not occupy it, and what it contains, along with the view of the outdoors from its interior. This section places the speaker within a memory or dream since “there is no house […] / yet here [they are]” (Lines 2-3). It notes the absence of other members of the household and then enumerates the items in the house and finally looks outdoors. A tonal switch occurs as the speaker notes that “[i]n the east a bank of cloud / rises up silently like dark bread” (Lines 17-18), creating greater complexity. 

The second half of the poem is driven by tension as the speaker begins to push away from the memory as well as their past selves. They cannot “see” (Lines 19-22) rightly here and cannot feel their “own body” (Line 27).