Glossary

Hayden uses a technique call synesthesia when he writes "blueblack cold."  In poetry, synesthesia is when you use one sense (like sight) to describe another (like touch).  For example, "cold" is something that you feel, but Hayden describes it as a color.  Even though "blueblack" isn't something you can feel, it creates an impression of the cold that includes how it looks rather than just how it feels.  The speaker says it is early morning, so "blueblack" might be describing what the sky looks like outside the window or how the room looks in the early light.

Besides being a description of the setting, how does this image help you understand the poem?

What else is might be blueblack?  ice, a bruise,  . . .

Think about how these blueblack images might help you understand the speaker's world.