Cane

“Her Lips Are Copper Wire” is a poem with five stanzas, each with two or three lines. The poem’s addressee is the speaker’s lover, who is given gentle commands in each stanza. In Stanza 1, the speaker asks the subject to whisper about lamppost lights. Toomer compares the swaying lampposts to drunken people. Stanza 2 expresses the speaker’s desire for closeness to the addressee, wanting to feel their breath. In Stanza 3, the addressee is told to “telephone the power-house / that the main wires are insulate” (Lines 6-7). In parentheses, Toomer describes the sound of a woman’s voice. Finally, the addressee is invited to kiss the speaker.

A woman’s soul is likened to a “little thrust-tailed dog that follows her, whimpering” (72). Every day when she comes home, she leaves her little dog in the vestibule where it is very cold. Someone—perhaps Jesus—will cover the dog and bring it inside where she sleeps. The story switches to the second person. Sometimes the reader sees the dog during the day with its owner. Eventually, the reader notices the dog nuzzled against their leg, shivering. The dog has given up on returning to the house, where it is usually left alone in the cold.