Speaker of "Crying"
In many of Galway Kinnell's poems, there is not a named main character - instead, there is simply a speaker that has their own personality. The speaker of the poem "Crying" is one of them, embodying the idea of how crying should be carried through. Having already gone through hardship, the speaker tells readers that instead of only crying when one needs to, you should let everything out at once, so you can be eternally happy.
Speaker of "Telephoning in Mexican Sunlight"
The speaker and protagonist of the novel is currently in Mexico, but there is a woman he loves living in New York. Calling her from a phone booth, the speaker gets annoyed when a passerby says he is wearing a woman's shirt, and his easily irritable personality continues to show throughout the poem. However, being the dynamic character that he is, the speaker starts to notice more of the things around him, instead of just himself, and see how beautiful they are. A flock of birds is one of these things, but still, he feels they are staring at his bright, flowery shirt. Yet, when his lover speaks to him in an embarrassing way, he feels that everyone is staring at him, and can practically read his thoughts.
Speaker of "Daybreak"
The speaker of "Daybreak" is a very observant person, and enjoys watching the tides on the beach. Looking at all of the starfish laying on the sand, imagining they are stars in the sky, he begins to contemplate if land and sky are that different after all. As the dawn of morning comes, the starfish sink into the mud. The speaker, wondering what this might represent, thinks of life and death, day and night.
Speaker of "Blackberry Eating"
The speaker of this poem has an intense love for blackberries, and compares eating them to "dirty feelings" that he has felt before. The speaker is obviously lonely, as he would not be thinking such things of blackberries if he were not. He continues to describe the berries with dirty words, and readers get the idea that he is a little insane, if not simply insanely adept at making comparisons.
