Anxiety
Sprouls seems to suffer from some sort of anxiety disorder, possibly stretching back to adolescence. This becomes especially apparent in the poem "Down the Shore" in which she describes living in a new home. She strings up some willow boughs in the entryway so that whenever someone passes she can hear the gentle sweeping of the branches and be alerted to their presence. Undoubtedly this attention to detail and forethought stems from a gentle and easily startled nature. The stress of moving weighs so heavily on Sprouls that she is contacted by an acquaintance for some therapy help, which seems to set everything aright for her once more.
Wandering
Sprouls often describes travel or moving in her poems. She attributes her travel itch to her heritage in "Scout." After years of hearing about Austin, she sets out on foot to make it there. No challenge seems to dampen her enthusiasm for seeing a new city or meeting a new type of person. As a result of her many travels, Sprouls seems to have become aware of the role language plays in culture. She's observed how people speak all over, and she's become self aware of her own linguistic peculiarities. In "Mouth" she addresses a sort of discrimination she feels people direct toward her for speaking with a particular New England accent. This feeds in to a sort of frustration for other people's preoccupation with the idea of belonging.
Individuality
Sprouls seems to be a firm believer in the value of individuality. She employs a fabulous technique in her writing which emphasizes the unique qualities of specific sounds which she encounters in daily life. For example in "Down the Shore" she talks about a measuring tape she owns which has been "snapped too many times." Each moment which she describes about daily life feels like no human could have ever experiences before the way she talks about it. Insignificant habits like regularly closing a window become sacred and ritualistic in her poetry. She celebrates the uniqueness of all people as well, which is especially evident in her poem "Mouth" where she speaks familiarly of the variance between people's facial structures.
