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Stems asks whether youthful balance came from willows, breath, reed, and river movement, ending with a turn from private origin to forward motion.

The poem is delicate and concentrated, built from breath, bending wood, and stream movement. Its question about youth is really a question about form: where does balance come from, and how is it carried? The final phrase, or the run, keeps the lyric moving instead of letting it settle into a static image.

'Stems' is spare and broken into single falling lines, asking whether 'Upon being / Young' the speaker sensed 'That the rhythemic / Balance of life / Was in the breathing / Yes through a reed / Beneath a rivers stream'. The willow question is really a question about form -- where balance comes from and how it is carried -- and the closing turn, 'Only for me / or the run', keeps the lyric moving rather than letting it settle.