The poems in 'black seeds on a white dish' spring from the search for what is generated and discovered when loss and desire occupy the same space. But lamentation is not the primary focus-by destabilizing everything in its reach, loss disables rigidity. These poems shift widely in form and tone, and seeds invoke the creative germ that spurs the metamorphoses occupying them: "Nothing to do but let the form of things take over." Shapes themselves, including punctuation, become a language throughout.