The poem starfish by lorna dee cervantes. how does the poet's use of figurative language contribute to her central idea

Cervantes uses descriptive language about describing the five fingered specimens sprawled along the beach, she compared them to martyrs, soldiers and called it an artless suicide.She uses similes and metaphors as well as strong imagery to describe the pure beauty of starfish and weave an overall tale about how humans destroy everything for no reason beyond personal gain. She also uses personification to describe starfish as basically nothing when the leave the water because of the damage done by humans. She is saying when humans compare themselves to stars they simply become nothing.