The poems in The Boat that Brought Sadness into the World address exile both literally and metaphorically. The book addresses the literal exile of the poems' main speaker as well as the hard migrations of refugees. It discusses how exile might "swallow [one] whole" and the pain of refugees, whom the speaker imagines long to see their homeland once more. Metaphorically, it looks at life as a journey of and to exile. The book explores, for example, the journey from childhood through older ages and suggests that death is the ultimate exile as we leave the country of the body. These poems are incantations that challenge, refuse, and accept loss and longing.