The book has a thematic center in that it focuses on the post World War II era. There are many elegies in the collection for the passing of the entire World War II generation. There are also personal elegies for the passing of family members who belonged to the World War II generation. Then there are poems post World War II technological changes that impacted the way we think of ourselves and experience our daily lives: space travel, nuclear weapons, the digital age. Finally, there are some collaborative translations of contemporary Chinese poetry, and some poems about the 2+ years the author spent living in China.