Class is another theme in this book. Social class is determined often as much by taste as it is by education and wealth, or the lack of. Kizer's poem highlights the difference in class between the speaker and the "unknown poet," by describing their respective possessions and family. The speaker's house contains "bibelots and objects of art," suggesting that she values, and can afford to buy, precious things. The poet, on the other hand, has a "wild-faced wife" and "many children" who wear "torn jeans," and gives poetry readings that literally no one attends.