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While Rypma read, it was easy to imagine how she grew up in the sixties. She captured the audience by explaining that she didnt really like sewing [but] in these days you had to learn to cook and sew. She read her poem titled, Learning to Sew in the Sixties and all of the lines had words that could make any listener feel as though he or she could understand the frustration the speaker felt while learning to sew: We were [j]ust desparate / to pass Home Ec. Crying over / the crinkled velvet disaster originally / destined for a homecoming dance (10-13). The imagery used in this poem and many others is superior. For example, the use of the word crinkled makes it easy to visualize the fabric. Thematically, the speakers hatred for sewing was seen when she read with assurance that she and her acquaintances, who sewed along side her had, [n]o clue some of us were burning / the fabric of our futures (17-18). .
The next poem Rypma read was The Singer. Without knowing what a singer is, and how it applies to sewing, before listening to this poem, you are sure to be familiar by the end. The speaker admits she [g]rew up hating / that machine: / black curse / in every womans home (1-4). Throughout all of the poems the relative theme of disgust with sewing is very cleverly intertwined. Within the poem, many descriptive words are used within the lines to reflect the hatred such as, Pricked fingers. / Sewed legs to arms / zippers to hems / precursor / to the discord. The speaker uses the symbol of the singer sewing machines sound as being a distasteful cloth music (8) maker. The machine creating high notes / [shed] never reach (24-25).
After a few poems were read, it became obvious that Rypma engaged the audience with her frequent eye contact. After almost every stanza in the poems read she would look in the direction of the audience. Rypma gestured with her left hand frequently. This was notable by the time she read the poem Impossible Tasks.