Stomach (Symbol)
In "The Thing Is," the stomach symbolizes the inclination to deal with the events in one's life. If "you have no stomach" for something, then you cannot take in what is happening. This implies that not having a (symbolic) stomach prevents a person from living a full life. When a person is stressed, the stomach is one organ that is particularly affected, and so this symbol also has physical implications in the poem.
Burnt Paper (Symbol)
One description in the poem of the experience of grief reads, "everything you’ve held dear / crumbles like burnt paper in your hands." Burnt paper symbolizes destruction, loss, and the times in life when it feels like everything important has fallen apart. Paper also holds significance in a literary context; if the paper is burnt, then a creation has been destroyed. It is likely impossible to decipher what was once written or drawn on crumbled, burnt paper, which evokes the way that grief disrupts the normalcy of life.
Tropical Heat (Symbol)
Grief is compared to tropical heat, symbolizing how heavy the experience can feel. This tropical heat "[thickens] the air" and is "heavy as water," making it difficult to breathe. Though tropical places are generally considered vacation destinations, tropical heat in the poem is deemed an oppressive force that hangs over a person and makes it difficult to function normally. This difficulty is demonstrated in the line about how the tropical heat is "more fit for gills than lungs," suggesting that humans cannot withstand grief in the long term.
