Trees & Coconut Rum

In Robert Hass' poem, I believe he does struggle with the limits of language. In one part in the poem he mentions the "limits to saying." He uses the different types of trees as examples of this. The aspen is "doing something in the wind." Something can be anything. The tree's actions in the poem are limited because of the limit on words used to describe it. In reality, the motion of the trees is unlimited.

Like Hass, Rodney Jones also struggles with making meaning. In the poem the speaker has this solid idea, this coconut filled with milk and rum. It's there in his hands. As he slowly dumps its contents into the ocean, his once solid idea disappears. There is nothing left to hold on to or even describe. The idea is lost and there is no getting it back. There is no longer anything to make meaning out of.