This poem is called "Search for my Tongue", written by Sujata Bhatt. The theme is on one hand about her physical tongue, but metaphorically, about cultural identity and cultural clash. She emphasizes that it is extremely difficult to keep two cultures at the same time without giving one up. The poet therefore dreams that she can preserve her mother tongue, which is her original culture, and kick the foreign tongue (foreign culture) aside. Furthermore, by writing this poem, she hopes to find sympathy, or even empathy from readers.

In the poem she faces a dilemma, especially when she creates an imagery of "two tongues in your mouth". One of the tongues represents her mother culture and the other one represents her foreign culture. She knows that the two cultures cannot coexist and will obstruct each other. The mother tongue may "tie the other tongue in knots", causing trouble...