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

the relationship between the speaker and the tyre shop man?

Introduction
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.

Title and Extended Metaphor

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.

Motif of Writing
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.

Tyre Shop Man’s Behaviours

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.

Tyres and Words: Metaphors

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.

Tone Shift: Inspiration!

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.

Conclusion
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!