Question

What poetic devices are used in this poem? Where? (At least 3)

Once I wasn’t always so plain.
I was strewn feathers on a cross
of dune, an expanse of ocean
at my feet, garlands of gulls.

Sirens and gulls. They couldn’t tame you.
You know as well as they: to be
a dove is to bear the falcon
at your breast, your nights, and your seas.

My fear is simple, heart-faced
above a flare of etchings, a lineage
in letters, my sudden stare. It’s you.

It’s you! sang the heart upon its mantel
pelvis. Blush of my breath, catch
of my see-beautiful bird-it’s you.

Answer 1

"Strewn feathers" are a metaphor for chaos. It can also be a bit of a paradox because feathers are lightweight, and chaos is a serious and heavy matter.

"Sang the heart upon its mantel" in the last stanza is personification.

"See", again in the last stanza, is a homophone, or a word whose pronunciation has double meaning. The poet could mean see as is sight, but also implying sea like the body of water.