Mirikirani's use of virgule this stanza was to give voice, power, and compassion to the words she wrote. The virgule is used in the poem to mean "or" or "and or" or to indicate a choice between the words it separates, to make the ideas more inclusive or to emphasize the words. She used them to magnify and emphasize the words, to express the feeling she was having during the event, the first flash.
