Guiding Question: How does the poet use imagery and figurative language to convey the

relationship between the speaker and the tyre shop man?

In Bob Orr’s free verse poem “The Tyre Shop” the speaker, a poet, reveals his affinity for his
neighborhood tyre shop man and compares the man’s efforts to balance tyres with his own efforts
to balance words. The speaker’s tone is both admiring of the tyre shop man but also frustrated
with his own challenges to write an effective poem. Taking place over a single day from morning to
night, the speaker shows the emerging creativity and passion as he creates this poem for an
unknown stranger. Orr’s use of imagery and figurative language helps to develop the connection
between the speaker and the tyre shop man. In turn, this conveys the challenges of writing poetry
and the importance of poetic inspiration.

Orr’s title of the poem, “The Tyre Shop” alludes to the extended metaphor of the poem comparing
poetry with balancing tyres. The shop itself is a place of work, much like the poet’s desk or
workplace is a place of “hard labor.” In line 14 Orr refers to the “cavernous dark” of the shop,
perhaps alluding to the dark unknown places that poetry can bring one to or the lack of poetic
inspiration that sometimes can befall a writer. This choice by Orr helps to develop the relationship
between the speaker and the tyre shop man. Tyres are also the foundation for a car and require
balancing and this contributes to the metaphor comparing tires with words and the tyre shop
man’s work to the poet/speaker’s. This figurative technique cements their relationship to each
other.

In the beginning of the poem, the speaker alludes to the repetitive nature of writing poetry and
struggling to find inspiration. With the phrase “It begins every morning” Orr conveys that this is
nothing new and that the speaker’s routine is to “tap into inspiration.” The ambiguity of the
pronoun “it” makes the reader wonder what it is that starts every morning. It’s almost as if the
speaker cannot put it in words. The connotation of “tap into” is that of a well or spring that will
give him something to write about. In line 3, he admits that “really” he’s “just waiting for the tyre
shop man to show up” and admits that his arrival is something to anticipate and look forward to.
The dash at the end of this line connects the next line but also leaves the reader anticipating what
is coming next, perhaps figuratively representing his writer’s block or the unknown of where the
inspiration will come from.

Orr then introduces the behavior of the tyre shop man and conveys his kinship with the man. The
“cigarette and coffee” are both symbolic of morning rituals that both men share and show the
speaker’s affinity for this man. However, there is a tentative tone as the speaker remarks “I might
roll one too” and “I guess you could say” which shows his hesitancy (this could perhaps connect to
his own hesitancy as a writer) but also might convey the fact that he does not even know this man.
The simile comparing the “rolling of the doors” to “the first act of a play” connects the man’s work
with a work of art or literature but also helps to cement the visual imagery of the door rolling up
like a curtain. The comparison of life to art is the first introduction of this extended metaphor. The
opening act is also a metaphor for the morning or also the beginning of a poem. This use of
figurative language helps to further develop the connection between the speaker and the tyre
shop man as one opens his shop and the other opens his poem.

The poet then begins to develop the extended metaphor and describes the tyres “like black
donuts” stacked up then becoming “dark rings of invisible planets” as they are in the balancing
machine. The stark contrast between donuts and planets reveal the drastic difference between a
stationary tyre and one in constant motion. Again, Orr emphasizes the visual imagery but also
connects to something much deeper. Donuts have a somewhat mundane or earthly connotation
while “planets” reveal something grander and more universal. The tyres in motion as planets are
perhaps a metaphor for words in poetry and how poetic expression is elevated and takes the
reader to a higher plane. Lastly, the speaker asks a rhetorical question as wonders if the tyre shop
man “knows how intrigued [he’s] become with these mysteries?” This rhetorical question shows
the speaker’s fascination with the work of the tyre shop man and the motion of the tyres. The
mysteries of the tyres is clearly a connection to the mysteries of word and poetry and life’s grander
questions.

In the next section of the poem from lines 13 to 17 convey the speaker’s difficulty with writing
poetry as he compares balancing the tyres with balancing words in a poem. The speaker uses vivid
visual imagery as he describes the man as “lumbering bear-like in the cavernous dark.” This simile
comparing him to a bear in a dark cave helps to create a visual image of a large man in a dark shop
but more importantly connects to the metaphorical meaning of a poet “lumbering” in the dark and
unknown places in his subconscious mind. In line 16, ironically, he maintains perfect balance the
aid of the caesura with 5 words coming before and after the pause. Both phrases also end with the
words “align” and “balance” show he indeed show his ability to align words in a poem. This
symmetry in line 16 is clearly important and shows how he has actually grown as a writer through
the poem itself. He then remarks that “one day” he’ll tell the man of his struggles. The fact that he
will do this “one day” perhaps shows his desire but also his hesitation as he is not actually
connecting to this man at the moment and they remain strangers. He considers the “weight” of
words and the “balance” and the “measure of their rhyme” all essential components of poetry and
tyres.

There is a tonal shift in the poem as the “sun subsides” and the day ends but also the poem is
coming to a close. The vivid visual imagery in this section of the poem from lines 18-25 is at its
most vivid and beautiful but also somewhat violent. The “sudden” “wild orb of redness tearing
itself apart” is a clear description of the sunset but could also be a symbol of the sudden inspiration
and vivid power exuded by the speaker-poet in the poem. He describes it as “ripping from its axle
breaking open the branches” again connecting the sun to a tyre and connecting the speaker to the
tyre man but also showing the intensity of the sunset and the intensity of writing poetry as it
perhaps rips something out of one’s soul. The appearance of the moon leaves the reader with an
image of peace and rest as it is compared metaphorically to “crystal” and something that is
associated with “Eden” and heaven. This allusion helps to create a sense of peace and serenity as
the poem crescendos from the cavernous dark to the peaceful imagery of the moon and Eden. This
vivid imagery and symbolism leaves the reader with an appreciation of the poet's craft as he leaves
the tyre shop and goes to the heavens.

Lastly he ends the poem with a hint of metapoetry as he remarks that “the other poem may or may
not be written” and “this one is for the tyre shop man.” The “other poem” is a reference to the poem
that the speaker was trying to write while he was waking up in the morning but lacked the
inspiration until the tyre shop man appeared. The tyre shop is a metaphorical representation of
the speaker’s inspiration and without him, the poem we are reading would never be written. The
speaker shows his appreciation for the tyre shop man though his exclamation of “oh” which ends
the line and then continues “oh stranger and neighbor.” The juxtaposition of stranger and neighbor
shows the complicated relationship the speaker has with the man since he feels like he knows him
but in fact is completely distant from him. Perhaps the tyre shop man is a parallel to the readers
themselves as we are a neighbor and a stranger to the poet. Lastly, the speaker calls the tyre shop
man his “accomplice and his “mentor.” An accomplice aids someone in a crime so what exactly is the
crime committed. Perhaps it is the creation of this poem itself as it almost seems like cheating
since he is merely describing what his neighbor is doing rather than writing a poem. THe man is
also his “mentor” and almost his superior perhaps since he is confident and effective in balancing
the tyres while the poet/speaker feels inadequate and still in a state of learning. The poem then
deviates from its structure and ends with “and my muse!” The exclamation mark and the
indentation of the line highlights the man’s importance as a source of poetic inspiration. The irony
of a neighborhood tyre man being a poet’s muse should not be lost on readers but this also
underscores the significance of finding poetry in everyday life.

This poem takes a neighborhood scene and invests it with magic and power. Bob Orr shows how
one can find inspiration in the smallest of things and that balancing tyres can even be compared
with balancing words in prose. The eloquent imagery and figurative language shows Orr’s
mastery of his craft but also shows how words can powerfully portray the human condition and
the challenges but eventual victory of poetic expression!