Les Wall Week 3, Question 2

2. Consider the imagery Hemphill uses in "Commitments". What do these images highlight or establish about the narrator? (Consider that the images are largely of other people).
My take on what the images highlight or establish about the narrator is in simple terms his normalness if there is such a word. All that I read up to line 16 could have been said about me or just about anyone else's family. Line 16 starts to tell us something is different here, but what? We don't really know yet. The story continues until line 24 again his arms are empty, but why? Why does he tell us his arms are empty? He sounds like my brother who would be by my side for any critical emergency, graduation, even be there in the middle of the night all still pointing to the simple reasoning of normalcy, sorry for the word, you can always ask the question what is normal, I use it to describe what I read, and what is the narrator trying to tell me? I will be honest here if I had not read the introduction for this section I would not have guessed he was talking about his sexuality. I do not see gays or lesbians as any different than me, except for there sexual preferences. I am not so sure that Hemphill isn't trying to persuade himself that he is no different than anyone else. That's my take on this poem, whats yours? Les