In examining the layers pared off in the transition towards death,there is always the question: "Have I done what I set out to do? Make madness an artistic experience?" Cummings' new poems are rooted in music, with stress on loss and uncertainty, all the while attempting to maintain balance and a sense of reality. She appraises creativity at different times of life; in success and failure, death and desperation, and in dreams and fantasies and the process of writing itself. While still exploring the ghazal form, as in her previous work Keep it Terse, she also ventures out into new styles of expression, always reaching for the authentic voice.