what is the tone of this poem by susan berlin?

Question

IN THE DETAILS


Somewhere in there: six thousand shoes.

But, minutes before that, who knows
how many janitors’ mops were hung
in utility closets to dry, how many
stiff-bristled brooms and long-corded
vacuums were fitted, snug, between
metal clasps to keep the floor clear,
uncluttered? And inside the neat cubicles
and corporate suites, how many silk scarves
and hand-knitted hats, how many well-
broken-in baseball caps, headbands stained
with ninth inning sweat? What number of
charcoals and landscapes wrought
by people whose initials mean nothing,
how many final smiles captured and filed
in mahogany frames? And what of
the thousands of losses without names,
small things we surround ourselves with
to give texture to the mundane, personal
effects we hold like shields between our hopes
and the fate we’re ultimately dealt -- O how,
how many of those gone up in flames, before
the hooks they hung on had time to melt?

Answer 1

The general atmosphere of the poem is hopelessness.
The tone is luckless, ill-omen-ed and wretched. The series of rhetorical questions communicate jinxed, tragic, woeful tone


. . . . . who knows/
how many janitors' mops were hung/
in utility closets to dry,. . . . .
*
O how,/
how many of those gone up in flames, before/
the hooks they hung on had time to melt?

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