The neighborhood bar
A considerable amount of the plot takes place at Mickey's local bar where she used to share poetry at open mikes and other events. The neighborhood bar is described in familiar imagery, becoming a symbolic domain for community. Whenever Jill needs to talk to Mickey's friends, that's where she ends up. And yet, the imagery is darkened by Mickey's disappearance and Bill's death.
Sexual imagery
The novel features graphic, sometimes gruesome depictions of sexual encounters. These paint the story with a tone of erotic misbehavior, which is also thematically related to Mickey's death and disappearance. The depictions of sex involve extreme eros, sometimes even danger. The imagery helps the reader to understand that sex was a crucial component to how Mickey and Diana face their community. Both were sexually adventurous and pushed the envelope.
Portraits of violence
The novel also describes violence, both sexual and otherwise. Jill has to watch a murder take place, for instance, when Bill agrees to help her and then dies in a car bomb explosion designed to stop him from helping. Both Diana and Nick choke Jill in bed, a potential reminder of their ability to cause harm. Violence is also depicted in other ways, like in stories and in Mickey's "evil poetry."
Poetry and the lens of life
Imagery is the root of poetry, and these characters are all poets, literally, so another kind of imagery is mentioned throughout the book: the sublime nature of one's personal point of view. These characters all understand the events in their own way, so that Jill has to assemble their subjective points of view into one cohesive narrative about how Mickey died. The presence of poetry invites the reader to constantly interpret the plot for its "meaning," which might simply be that humans are surprisingly capable of violence and murder. This is certainly what Mickey's own poetry describes.
