Grimké's poetry accords very closely with her theoretical description of how she writes. Being expressions of the moment, her poems are usually brief. They present the scene or thought as swiftly as possible in sharp, concrete images, and then abandon it. This trait causes critics (like Robert Kerlin, for example) to compare her with the imagists. However, Grimké cannot usually refrain from comment, and thus violates the suggestive objectivity that is a part of their creed. Her poem "The Black Finger" is an excellent case in point. Here is its middle section:

    Slim and still,

Against a gold, gold sky,

    A straight cypress.

    Sensitive,

    Exquisite,

A black finger

Pointing upwards.

 

Those seven lines have the haiku-like, symbolic compression that the imagists prized. However, the poem consists of three additional lines--a beginning statement, "I have just seen a beautiful thing," and two closing questions, "Why, beautiful, still finger are you black? / And why are you pointing upwards?"--which alter considerably its tone and effect by making attitude and meaning too explicit.