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Upset compresses agitation into a few spare images of a line taken from the sea, a ladder, and unstable elevation.

The poem feels provisional on purpose. Upset is given not as explanation but as structure, with the sea and ladder images suggesting something extended outward and then lifted uncertainly off the ground.

Four lines of disconnection that literalize the title 'Upset': 'My long line taken / from the sea' pulls a lifeline out of its element, and 'My ladder / off the ground' strands the means of climbing. Both images strip an instrument of the surface it needs, so distress is shown as tools severed from their footing rather than described.