"The hounds, you know them all by name"
This unique introduction to the poem, "Actaeon" (a mythical Greek hunter that was turned into a male deer after seeing Artemis bathing, and then killed by his own hounds), shows us that this poem will probably follow most, if not all, of the storyline that we see in the Greek myth of the hunter "Actaeon". The poem, written in a 2nd person point of view, is telling you that you know all of the hounds by name, showing that now, for some reason yet to be known, they do not know yours. Later in the poem, we see the line, "To know the music of their yelps", further implying that you know these hounds very well. From this information, if you know the story of the Greek myth, you can infer that the main character, yourself, will be killed later in time, even though it is not directly mentioned in the poem.
"Just for a couple of years, we said, a dozen years back."
Like the poem "Actaeon", also by A.E. Stallings, we see some reference to the ancient Greek culture and civilization. This specific line in the poem directly shows that the main character is a procrastinator, as they are holding off on something they obviously do not want to do. The line, "Nothing is more permanent than the temporary" is seen throughout the poem, further indicating that one theme is people in general do not want to change things, or go out and fix something in their life, because it takes too long or has the extremely slim possibility of backfiring.
"The barnacle is rather odd —
It’s not related to the clam
Or limpet. It’s an arthropod,
Though one that doesn’t give a damn."
This poem is about a rather odd sea creature - the barnacle. Now, while it may be fun to believe that the author is really this enthusiastic about a sea barnacle, the barnacle represents people that are different from the general society. In this quote we see an explanation of how the barnacle is different from everything else in its arthropod family, but the last line sums the theme up by saying it doesn't care - even though it is different, it lives its life to the fullest and without regret.
