This collection examines the fragmented, precise linguistic landscape of Larry Eigner, a central figure in the Black Mountain and Language poetry movements. Samuel Charters curates a selection of Eigner's work, focusing on his unique approach to the typewriter as a musical instrument and his unconventional use of spacing and line breaks. The poems operate within a framework of immediate sensory perception, often capturing the minute details of domestic life and the physical environment. Eigner's objective is to strip language to its essential components, challenging the reader to reconstruct meaning from sparse, rhythmic arrangements of words. The narrative framework is non-linear, relying on the visual placement of text to dictate the pace and emphasis of the reader's experience.

Readers and critics often describe Eigner's work as a radical departure from traditional lyric poetry, noting his ability to transform the page into a spatial field. Discussion frequently centers on the technical difficulty of his work, which requires a high degree of active participation from the reader to decipher the intended rhythm. Critics highlight the importance of Charters' selection in providing a necessary entry point into a body of work that is otherwise difficult to navigate. The collection is widely regarded as a significant contribution to the study of experimental American poetry, offering a clear view of Eigner's development over several decades.