Juliana Spahr’s This Connection Of Everyone With Lungs describes events that happened after the attack on September 11^th that led up to the invasion of Iraq. Spahr uses facts and news reports to help the reader understand what was happening at this time and to show the readers the world. There are two major themes in the collection, besides the facts leading up to the invasion of Iraq, Spahr also reveals how people in our world come together but also separate themselves. There is always the undertone of that connection in her poems to show that although we are all different, we have a connection that cannot be broken.

This collection is split up into two poems; one is called “Poem Written after September 11, 2001” and “Poem Written from November 30, 2002, to March 27, 2003”. The first poem is much shorter than the second, within the second poem, there are sections represented by different dates. In each of these sections, Spahr makes references to different news stories and then describes either the connection we have as humans or the fact that we separate ourselves. Repetition is another technique that Spahr uses in her work to make a point. In her first poem, “Poem Written after September 11, 2001”, the entire poem is set up so that whatever was said in the stanza before is repeated in the next and then added onto the next stanza, “Everyone with lungs breathes the space in and out as everyone with lungs breathes the space between the hands in and out as everyone with lungs breathes the space between the hands and the space around the hands in and out.” (Spahr, 4-5). Spahr’s repetition causes the reader to really take in what she is saying. In the second poem, Spahr’s use of facts provides the reader with background information. Almost all of the sections of the second poem are split up by the facts and I think this allows the reader to fully understand her feelings and what she wants the readers to feel. As a reader, you have to look at each piece as its own separate thing, and in turn, you get the effect that all of these things are important.

I believe that Spahr was successful in her attempt to educate her readers. Her use of facts and headlines leading up to our invasion of Iraq shows her readers what our world is capable of whether the statements were about people coming together or separating. I think she does a really good job showing that there is a connection between everyone in the world, yet sometimes we do not acknowledge the connection and instead treat each other like there is no connection.