A chapter from his memoir Aubade explains this progression: "I felt at each of those decisions in my life, as I still feel today, that I was carrying forward all that I had learned and believed, moving into a wider context, understanding more fully historical Christianity, committing myself more firmly to the past as well as to the present and the future.

The poems--ranging from light verse ("Kitchen crickets make a din, / sending taunts to chilly kin, / 'You're outside, but we got in'") to a Shakespearean sonnet (number twelve) and an accompanying parody--are arranged by form, with tercet, haiku, acrostic poem, limerick, roundel, double dactyl, epitaph, and aubade among the twenty-nine included.

But Ellis shows strength with the sonnet "Kitchen Witches" and the aubade "Space.