Simplicity
In the poem Happiness, Carver deals with the simplicity of happiness, the simplicity of the morning and the simplicity of friendship. In the narration of the morning he reveals simple details, such as 'I'm near the windoe with coffee,' which may be a familiar scene to the reader. He describes the simple friendship of 'the boy and his friend,' who 'aren't aying anything,' yet, 'if they could, they would take each other's arm.' The simple description of these two characters, 'they have on caps and sweaters,' depersonalizes them to emphasize the simplicity of their happiness. Carver regards this friendship and happiness as 'Such beauty that for a minute death and ambition, even love doesn't enter into this. Therefore the simplicity of happiness as a single emotion is revealed.
Loss
In the poem Grief Carver deals with loss and death. He reveals an understanding that he has developed for these issues. The desperation of loss is shown in the story of his 'friend who used to shout his dead wife's name from hilltops around Perugia.' His friend also physically demonstrated his physical as well as emotional loss in that he 'set a plate for her at his simple table long after she was gone.' He still cared for his wife after she had passed away, 'and opened the windows so she could have fresh air.'
Carver reveals his eventual understanding of his actions by changing his opinion from 'Such display I found embarrassing. I couldn't see it,' to 'Not until this morning.' Something changed for Carver when he saw 'a small boat moving through the choppy water, a single running light on,' which suggests to the reader that he experienced his own loss that morning.
Significance
My Crow is a poem in which Carver deals with the value of significance and how not everything has a deeper meaning or value than its face value. He begins by setting the scene in, 'A crow flew into the tree outside my window.' He then lists some significant crows from works of literature such as ' Ted Hughes's crow,' and 'Lorca's crow,' and decides that his crow is not like them. 'This was just a crow,' according to Carver, in a monosyllabic, simple sentence that presents the everyday as it is, instead of forcing a deeper symbolism to the crow or attaching significance to it. Instead he simply states that the crow, 'never fit in anywhere in its life, or did anything worth mentioning,' which is slightly ironic, because Carver is writing a poem about it and mentioning its landing on a tree. However, this further emphasizes the significance, or perhaps insignificance of face value.
