The heart of Firebird is Mark's decision to accept himself and to love himself the way he is. He explains that his affinity for art might be at the root of why he decides to love himself, because he appreciates his attention to beauty and he understands that although his mother thinks his affinity for art is an indication that Mark is broken, Mark knows that it's really his superpower, and so he learns to love himself, because he knows he is destined to become an artist.
Much like Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, this memoir attempts to portray the intimate nuances of feeling like an outsider, and the way that artistic sensitivity and homosexuality can result in feelings of embarrassment and frustration if they are repressed. However, by learning to say yes to himself the way he is, Mark transcends that self-hatred and finally discovers that the real reason the universe seems to hate his flamboyant optimism about life is that they are also the victims of the same repression, but in different ways.
Therefore, the thematic punch of the memoir is its life-affirming, joyful, gleeful quality. The titular image is the one of young Mark dancing like a crazy-person, thrilled by life and music, captivated by Stravinsky's "Firebird Suites." Mark is a firebird too, in his own way, and like the phoenix rises from its own ashes, so also the poet Mark is born from the child Mark, as the result of his willingness to surrender to the forces of beauty and self love.
