What is a central focus of Tissue’s imagery?

• A. The power of written history
• B. The durability of stone
• C. The strength of metals
• D. The vastness of space

Answer: (A)

Tissue’s imagery centers on paper as a stand-in for history and truth, showing how what we write down can carry power and shape memory. The poem treats tissue and paper as the medium through which borders, identities, and histories are recorded, and it continually suggests that these records are fragile—easily folded, torn, or worn away. This makes the authority of history seem dependent on human writing rather than on permanence or material strength. In other words, the power lies in the written word and what it can convey about who we are, how we live, and how boundaries are imagined, not in stone, metal, or vast spaces.