This wide-ranging metaphorical concept of "the scout," as in the title poem, indicates the many paths the book follows, not limited by any rigid sense of direction but, in fact, going out to edges and extremes, both joyful and aware of life's distresses: "Evidence abounds, but still only the tip of the world's mistakes, / The cold, deep mass of sorrow and illusion. / I am the man who monitors the moment when the glacier breaks." ("The Monitor").