Both poems, “she being Brand” and “Coming Home, Detroit 1968” describes a man driving though a city. The metaphors used throughout each piece are entirely different in format, tone, and in what they are trying to express to the reader.

The first poem by e.e. cummings describes the experience and the rush of driving his brand, new car for the first time. The poem’s exaggerated composition is also similar to a car in motion and when it comes to a stop. The metaphors used throughout the poem sounds erotic. The driver explains his experience as he’s about to start the car for the first time, “..a little stiff I was careful of her.. my gas felt of her radiator made sure her springs were O.K. Later, he ends the poem describing the climax, “..the internalexpanding & externalcontracting.. brought allofher tremB-ling..” The poem interprets the desire of the first sexual encounter between a man and a chaste woman.

The second poem by Phillip Levine describes a man driving through the city of Detroit during a depressing period. The poem describes the atmosphere of the city and people. The metaphors used throughout the poem sounds sad. The narrator explains the experience of driving home seeing the misery of others, “one brown child stares and stares into your frozen eyes.. The charred faces, the eyes boarded up, the rubble.. we burn this city everyday”. The poem interprets a time in history where Detroit had deadly riots frequent which left property destroyed.