Philip is known for her literary and linguistic transgressions as well as conventionality at the same time. She has been a living paradox. Her social criticism was quite unique. She explores a multitude of literary themes in her works.
The first interesting thing about the poem is the fact that none of the lines is a complete sentence. In fact, each line is just a cryptic phrase to be decoded by the reader. "the throw in circumstance" seems to be something that has suddenly been developed or something that has been lost in translation. This phrase demands multiple interpretations. It could perhaps mean that certain people held hostage to bad circumstances, perhaps due to their race or class, and they might and a "weight in want" (the phrase that follows), or a need to achieve something, to transcend the boundaries that confine them.
The author also talks about "the underwriters" or the ones who are still struggling and compares them with the underprivileged. She talks about the "that fact". This that fact could be anything, and the reader can only assume what the writer has in her mind, but perhaps she is talking about the struggle of the marginalized.
She finally talks about "the after rains". The after rains could perhaps signify rebellion.
