Let's not overlook this grouping: > the song that he sang her to ... soothe her to sleep >
I'm sure everyone's hearing her phrasing in their heads as they read that. This is masterful stuff, people. For one thing, it's not sing-songy. It's so un-sing-songy that I'll bet some people think it doesn't work. I don't. The way she phrases "that he sang her to" scans very funny as text on a page. She even stuffs a preposition at the end of the line so she has to split the phrase. This is edgy stuff because it builds tension. It's an unexpected place to put a breath but it sets up the stacatto point: She's haunted not by his anger but by his kindness. She can't easily disassociate herself from it. He sang her to sleep but now it's keeping her AWAKE, so to speak. Anyway, my original point was that her phrasing is mind-blowing. Who else in their right mind would say it like that? > the song that he sang her to ... soothe her to sleep > Lama Bob, the South Carolina Joni Guy, said, >It's really a brilliant song, the normal writer would fall into cliche using this kind of metaphor, but of course Joni is NEVER normal.>
