There are just not enough
straight lines. That
is the problem.
Here, the speaker refers to the chaotic construction of shanty towns where there are no regulatory requirements for design safety. These structures are often made from any scavenged resources and raw materials available. With the eye of an artist or architect, the speaker specifies the design problem of there not being enough straight lines. Straight lines are thus made to represent safety and order in the poem. They outline the privilege of being able to walk into a building without worrying it will collapse. The speaker delves into what this absence of straight lines says about the resilience of those who have to make a life in these structures.
And even dared to place
These eggs in a wire basket
In describing the eggs that the building's inhabitants have placed there, the speaker comments on the inhabitants themselves. The word "dared" implies a courage or defiance in the person who placed the eggs in the basket. The adverb "even" casts the action as unbelievable. This description alludes to the idiom of having all of your eggs in a basket, which means to risk all you have on the success or failure of one thing.
The detail about the wire basket aligns with the earlier focus on materials. However, it does not specify what type of wire is used, whether the basket is handmade, or how pliable and prone to breakage the basket may be.
Gathering the light
Into themselves,
As if they were
The bright, thin walls of faith.
Here, the eggs are personified in a faith-based way. To gather light into oneself is a lyrical description for filling oneself with the energy to live, to continue on. The light does not just fall onto the eggs, illuminating them from within. Rather, according to the speaker, the eggs actively gather the light into themselves. This focus on light further develops the architectural eye through which the speaker observes the scene.
The "bright, thin walls of faith" parallel both the structure that these people live in and the very skin of their bodies. In both cases, the inhabitants must create a life despite difficult circumstances.
