The major concept tying this collection together is a sense of waking, or an awareness about ordinary aspects of life. In the collection, this usually occurs in the realm of relationships, both familial and romantic. The first third of the poems are focused on family and the interchanging roles and subsequent acceptance, especially when death occurs. In the final third of the collection, the poems shift to romantic relationships. Bridging these two subjects are poems that focus on the gap between leaving "home" and creating a new one and the unexpected discontent with that seemingly lost time.