"Where I Come From" displays the connection between the past and the present by the repetition of the word "smell" and the use of olfactory imagery. For instance, the poet describes the smell of the city; "like the smell of smog or the almost-not-smell of tulips in the spring." The poet is implying that it is not possible for one to forget one's past, and that scents from childhood linger throughout one's life. .
"Where I Come From" is written in free verse with many caesuras to emphasize the relationship between past and present. Brewster uses enjambments, for example, "People are made of places. They carry cool eyes of sea-gazers." Several caesuras are also present in the poem, for instance, "behind which violets grow. Spring and winter." These deliberate pauses reflect Brewster's want for the poem to be read with appreciation. The poet wants the reader to pause, think and appreciate their own life (i.e., their past and present). The stanzas are placed one after the other to emphasize the contrast between the subject of each stanza; rural communities and urban cities. In stanza one, Brewster describes the controlled nature in an urban atmosphere; "nature tidily plotted into little squares" and in stanza two the poet recalls the wild, untamed fauna in a rural environment; "acres of pine woods; blueberry patches in the burnt-out bush." .
The postcolonial poem "A Different History" by Sujata Bhatt discusses the repercussions of colonization and globalization in India. Bhatt analyzes the change of culture and tradition when the British had rule of India in the nineteenth century. She reviews the loss of culture and heritage during the colonization and shares her opinion on the matter. The poem "A Different History" clearly shows the relationship between past and present through her use of English, the language of the colonizers. Bhatt is expressing that the British colonization had treacherous effects on traditional Indian literature, culture and lifestyle.